Ideology Over Truth, Always
by limitless-desire
Summary: N's reappearance after ten years shocks everyone & causes a mass rift between Touko, her friends & Team Plasma.
1. Chapter 1

So, this is my first fanfic, yeah? Have fun reading whatever my imagination spills.

..

"N, what is it that you truly want?" said Cheren, grabbing onto Touko's hand while the power unleashed by dragons conquered them, causing heavy disorder in the throne room. Touko felt like she was close to slipping, close to losing. Cheren gave a direct, piercing glare at N, demanding an answer.

This was it, the final battle of all truth and ideals. Touko was on the threshold of winning until she started becoming psychologically frail. Something told her to hold back but she didn't want anything to happen to Unova. Cheren was with her, giving her hope while she fought N on the battlefield of crushed desires.

"What do I truly want you ask, dear Cheren? I want her to stop straining so much. She's trying too hard; her Pokémon are worn out yet she keeps going. You know you want to stop Touko, so just stop now. You know you want a better world for your Pokémon right? I believe you should stop. Let your Pokémon have all of the ideals they've wanted! It's your time, Touko."

Touko ignored him then shook her head furiously, feeling as if she was a millimeter away from losing the battle.

_This girl, she has the potential to beat me... I know I've lost, _N thought to himself, clenching his fist shut to the point where he couldn't take it anymore.

Touko screamed out to the top of her lungs to finish him off, "No N, no more! I will not listen to you! You are a twisted person; separating Pokémon and people isn't right! You even said it for yourself; these are your friends as they are ours! Now Reshiram, use Fusion Flare, right and center!"

She lifted heavy arms for the motion to set Reshiram off. Reshiram was the only Pokémon she trusted enough to defeat N with, since Braviary fainted from excessive tiredness. Touko knew that she had enough hope for it to finish this off. It attacked N's last Pokémon and ally, Zekrom. His Pokémon fainted with Reshiram lightly flying back into place. The piercing sound of N's voice was highly devastating, it shooting above everyone and filling the atmosphere with fright.

_Did I truly lose?, _N thought to himself, shaking and shivering after being defeated by just an ordinary, female trainer.

Touya smirked and thought in his head, _All that training didn't go to waste did it Touko? Looks like you've done it now... You conquered him, but what shall you do now little sister?_

Everyone was in utter shock, especially Touko, who could barely move a limb.

Touya walked out, laughing loudly while Ghetsis finally made way into the room, stopping and causing a fuss. He seemed displeased after hearing the uproar that occurred. Cheren stood in front of Touko to block her from all that was possibly going to happen.

"So… You were defeated by a female, N? Do you really think you're worthy of sharing the name Harmonia with me after all of this? You are pathetic; I wonder why I bothered to take you into care in the first place!" Ghetsis constantly walked back and forth, swinging his hands & arms as if he was sending orders to his subordinates of Team Plasma. "You are nothing but a warped, defective boy; you are nothing to me."

While Touko heard all of this, she was trembling. In fear? No, she was shocked at all he said about his own son. She never heard words as cruel as that come from anyone's mouth.

N turned around and shook his head in embarrassment, not listening to his own father ranting about his 'pathetic' skills and such.

"And then this girl…" Ghetsis stared at Touko and started to lock into her eyes and continued on, "You, you're an ordinary trainer; a mere girl you are. How could you do something like this? You destroyed what I created, Team Plasma!"

"Ahem," Alder broke into Ghetsis' rant, "N, do you really think Pokémon and humans should be separated now?" Ghetsis became even more infuriated after he heard such words coming out of Alder's mouth.

He grabbed Alder and started to scream, causing a startling effect, "You think you could get to someone like that? N is a freak, he has no human sensitivity and kindness or a heart even! How do you expect to change his train of thought?! He is a pitiful child, leave him be…" Touko stood in shock as all was going on.

Cheren and Alder latched onto the arms of Ghetsis, dragging him out of the room which left only Touko and N to confer everything. N simply turned his head and shuck himself back and forth, looking as if he was implying to descend into the wreckage left from the encounter. Touko wanted to stride towards him… to relieve her enemy but something told her not to.

He smiled, turning away to the wall and lightly spoke, "Ah.. Touko. Before all of this, you said you understood me. Do you really believe so? After all I've pitted you against, you actually believe so? You had so many Pokémon around you that you bonded with during your journey. Even I don't understand what I'm doing... I can't bond with my Pokémon like you do. They're happy, who am I to break that, right? Remember in Accumula? I heard your Pokémon and I couldn't believe what it was saying about you. It actually liked you. I didn't know Pokémon who liked people even existed, I mean really... The more I constantly pushed into my journey; I became, quite uncertain about everything. That's why I wanted to confront you hero-to-hero, ideals versus truth. You won and now I understand that the reason why this world exists is due to the bond we have with Pokémon..."

Touko listened to every word he said and took it like she was listening to a lecture. She allowed herself to accept all that he was saying. She stood still due to the fact that didn't have the strength to do anything at that very moment. Touko was too stunned to even think of what was happening.

"I just needed a friend to help me out Touko. I'm sorry. But remember what you told me at Chargestone Cave? You had a dream. Pursue that dream and make it come true. Well then… Farewell." N smiled for another minute while allowing Zekrom to leave its Pokéball.

_I hope we meet again Touko, our battles have amazed me_, he thought, climbing onto the back of Zekrom.

Touko stared at him with great dismay, wondering why he had come this far to give up at his 'ideals'. Cheren, Alder and Touko knew he already lost but they also knew that he had more strength than to just let it end here.

"N, come back, why are you helping me?! You are the enemy... stop being so kind to me! Finish what you have started, don't run away!" Touko called. At the blink of an eye, he departed on the back of Zekrom, smiling without giving a reply and did only that.

Touko looked at her hands and then looked around, "Why did he do that…?"

"Touko, snap out of it, this is reality; you must face what is to come! Now listen here, the Shadow Trio came and released the Seven Sages. We have no choice but to look for them although they're not strong enough to come back and try their evil plans once again... I just fear Ghetsis trying to come back." Touko looked emotionlessly at Cheren, trying to regain normality in herself.

"Cheren... I'm sorry; I don't know what just happened. I feel like I had a mental slap to the face, but let's go before something else happens..." Touko turned around and called Reshiram out of its Pokéball and released it. It flew into the sky, nowhere to be seen just as N left. She then looked around at her surroundings, realizing that it was herself and N who caused such destruction. Debris still flew everywhere, as a simple step could have allowed her to fall to her demise.

Cheren then grabbed Touko by the arm, dashing off with her down the castle. On the way down, Touko stopped Cheren and walked into a mysterious, colourful room.

"C-Cheren… What is this room? Do you know what it is?"

_I know this has to be N's childhood room, I can sense it,_ Cheren thought, as glared he everywhere, mainly examining the basketball. He let go of Touko to get a closer glimpse of it.

"Hmm... Harmonia… I wonder if they could have been harboring a child in this castle?" he asked, as he placed the basketball back into its original position.

Touko wandered off past, the active train set into the back of the room. She looked around for some clues as she looked at scratched paintings on the wall, toys clawed and broken with a tiny bed in the corner.

"What if this was N's room?" Touko shook her head in rapid motion, running back to Cheren and clinging onto him unexpectedly, "Nevermind, let's leave! This place is creepy…"

Cheren and Touko took off down the steps to continue into Champion Alder's room. After arriving, Alder looked emotionless at the two, not realizing where he was or what had happened.

"Alder, what shall we do now? They've ran off and there's not much we can do now." Cheren scratched his head and let go of Touko.

Alder smiled to a great extent and replied, "Nothing, Cheren! They won't come back, now both of you should go home now, there's nothing much to do here now."

Touko nodded, agreeing with Alder as Cheren waved and pushed Touko toward the exit. Touko got a bit nervous while she was walking and suddenly broke out into a panic.

"Cheren, I think they might come back. I just know it… believe me when I say that. You know I'm never wrong about my instincts right?!" She quietly cried out of pure perplexity that she went through such an event.

She thought that perhaps, maybe Team Plasma would come back. Or would they? Cheren didn't believe her either way, giving her a pat on the back and gave a slight grin on his face.

"It's okay Touko, they're done for good and I know they are. You can bellow at me later on in life if they ever do come back alright? Promise. Now let's go back to Numeva; you're an emotional clutter right now. We don't need you going insane now, do we?"

.

Touko gleamed outside of her villa, the very same one that she had received from Caitlin, at the striking, luminous sea. It caught her attention every time she woke up. It was all so beautiful, but it was sad to enjoy it alone. Touko finally moved to Undella, right after her, her mother and Touya made separate ways.

She stopped looking at the sea and walked back into bed. Loneliness engulfed her all over so there was never much to do around here except read some books, finish work, and talk to her Pokémon, mainly Braviary or Absol.

"Ahhh, Braviary, don't you think something immense is about to happen? Sometimes I worry," she said, snuggling up closer to Braviary. He was quite a nice, gallant Pokémon and had huge wings. Touko never felt frightened around him since he went everywhere she went.

Touko smiled and walked downstairs to pick up a new novel until suddenly, the doorbell rang. She looked through the peephole and threw on a robe in order to open the door. No one was there, yet she opened the door just to make sure no one was there.

_I hope I'm not dreaming anymore…_

As she walked out of the door, she called out, "Hello? Is anyone out there?" After looking around for quite a bit, Touko took one very small step out into the sand.

".. Come."

Touko flinched and suddenly stared dreadfully into the midst of her surroundings. There, she was right! She saw one of the Shadow Trio.

Touko thought to herself, _I knew it, I knew it, the time has come where he shall ascend once again.. _

She followed along with this individual as he led her to a hammock with someone laying in it. Touko stood still, awaiting for what was to come.

The member of the Shadow Triad called out to her, pointing in the hammock, ".. Look."

Touko peered into the hammock, to her surprise, noticing a familiar person. Green hair? Nice complexion? He was almost too familiar to her. After staring for several seconds more, she realized that it was not N, but Ghetsis.

She covered her face in shock, trembling and stepping away from the hammock. She frequently pinched herself to make sure that she was actually in reality. Ever since N came about, she always wondered if she was actually dreaming or not.

"You've brought me the trainer named Touko? Good, thank you, you are free to do what you like until tomorrow," said Ghetsis, waving his subordinate off with the member of the Shadow Triad disappearing in thin air.

Ghetsis smirked and stared at Touko. He didn't feel a single emotion at all while he examined her from head to toe.

"So Ghetsis, long time no see; it's been a couple of years, what do you want from me? I'd like to enlighten you that I no longer partake in Pokémon battles; they are of no importance to me any longer," Touko softly spoke, sighing after every sentence.

He snickered a bit and stood up from the hammock. He smiled at her and looked into the sea. Touko looked along with him, though she was quite curious to know why he forced her here.

He quietly replied, "Well Touko, you're not looking too bad after ten years, are you now?"

"Get to the point, I don't have time for this." Touko gripped onto her robe, contemplating running until Ghetsis turned around to her for a quick second.

"Getting feisty aren't we?" The man smirked, and continued to stare at the oceanfront. "Well, to answer your question, I am planning to take over the Unova region, and I'd like you to be aware of it. You probably might not take me seriously after saying that but what more can I say? There's only one way possible that you can stop this from happening. You, Touko, take N in your care, make him your friend. Save this boy from the fate that he is predestined to."

Touko gravely stared at the grown man the immediate time he said such. She trembled in her own body, wondering if he was actually serious or not. She shook her head furiously with her voice becoming shaky.

The wind started blowing in her face, tangling her hair, making it harder for her to control herself while she shivered and started to panic, although she kept her calm.

"Why do you care about him? You insulted this man, did you not? Humiliated him in front of his enemy… quite pathetic if you ask me. I don't believe you; do whatever you wish to Unova. If I believe you, understand that I WILL make contact with you as soon as possible."

It took her serious guts to stick up for herself but Touko started to tense up every time she thought about the idea of N coming back from wherever he went to. It seemed as if Ghetsis had N held captive at the moment but she still couldn't believe a single bit of it... the friend part bothered her the most. The day N left, he DID talk about a friend. Maybe he meant Touko?

"He is still my son after all that has happened years ago. Believe me, he is under my care. I shall attack Unova when I wish so be careful. You have been warned, Touko. If I were you, I'd go ahead and accept what I have been requested to do." While Touko was trying to take all he said in, Ghetsis slyly smiled and walked off.

_That man has the nerve doesn't he, Touko... get a hold of yourself and think it out a bit, _she thought and walked back to the villa.

The crashing sound of the waves reminded her of the battle with N. The wind constantly blew in her face, causing her to shake and shiver out of fear that something was going to happen. She shook herself and ran back as fast as she could.

_That guy has some serious nerve to be talking to me like I'm a minion of his or something… _she thought to herself repeatedly, running back to the villa. She couldn't think right; she was in a highly sullen mood, although she wanted to converse to Cheren about this matter. He probably would have turned it down, so she thought she should keep it to herself until there was an answer.

..

The ringing of Touko's phone filled the villa with echoes. She immediately answered the phone after being startled by it.

"_Touko, y-you were right! Team Plasma is back. How did you know? I'm quite astounded to see them here at this time of day_…"

_It's Cheren_, she thought, as her toes started to curl. She started feeling guiltiness as she should have agreed to do what Ghetsis offered. She assumed that Team Plasma was in Aspertia.

"Cheren.." Touko started to tense up after 3 seconds of stillness amid herself and Cheren. She felt the need to take anger out but she didn't know how. She bit her lip repeatedly to try to calm down.

"_Whoa, hold up there speedy, you can yell at me when I get there. For now, I'm fighting off Team Plasma so I'll see you in about an hour? Don't get too uptight, I don't intend on dying._" He hung up, Touko slowly descending on the floor.

_Ahhhh, Touko, look what you've done now! _

Touko slapped herself on the arm and started to mope gently in the comfort of her bedroom. Braviary sat on Touko's head and started to wipe her tears with his wings. She hugged a lacey, black pillow, crushing it as if it was helping her feel better.

"Braviary, what happens next? I warned him and he didn't listen. If he knows I met Ghetsis, he'll murder me…"

After a bit of time, the doorbell rung once then another five times. Touko sighed and stood up, approaching the door.

"Hey, hey, I'm coming, I'm coming! Goodness!" she yelled out.

While Touko was in a somewhat of an edgy mood, Cheren rushed inside and grabbed her by the arm. She turned quite horrified in him doing so, as it was out of his nature to do something like that.

Cheren was quite a calm and collected person after the years passed. He always checked up on Touko due to the fact that she was alone most of the time. His emotions started showing more and more as he stayed with her.

"Ghetsis! He's back. He told me that you saw him earlier today. Tell me what happened, tell me now!" He shook Touko, demanding to know but before she could inform of such, Touko sensed that something walked in the door along with Cheren.

"Hold on. Something is in the company of us that doesn't feel right," Touko said with her being slowly loosened by Cheren's grip. "Come out of hiding, whatever you are. I know you're with us so don't be stunned."

To both of their surprise, a member of the Shadow Triad snuck in along with Cheren. Cheren stood very still while this occurred, with Touko moving a bit closer to him.

".. Come. Both of you," he called out at them.

The two of them looked at each other for a quick second. Cheren shrugged with Touko holding onto her other arm. They both followed the member of the Shadow Triad into a very dark place in town, past the forest. Touko clung onto Cheren while being a little frightened for what was going to happen. Everything was dark yet they were able to end up to our destination: something that looked sort of like a hideout. Unforeseen it was but they were highly shocked upon venturing in.

".. Wait here." he said, while he stood still and disappeared in thin air. Cheren sighed with Touko starting to tremble in fear.

Touko was just thinking of all the possibilities of what could happen. What if N was actually here, in this building? What if Ghetsis was going to try to pull up that offer again? How does Cheren feel about being here? She couldn't do anything about it.

She calmly blew her hair out of her eyes. Her and Cheren stared at each other until a couple of seconds later, a familiar face appears.

"So did you think carefully about what you wanted to do, Touko?" Ghetsis appeared, smirking and snickering as evilly as possible.

Cheren stared at Touko then back at Ghetsis, repeating then stroking his chin a bit. He didn't understand what was going on, especially after the Shadow Trio revealed themselves once again.

"I did. But I'd like to talk to Cheren first about it. Tell me Ghetsis, what do you intend to do to Unova? What is your goal now? I mean, N is out of the picture now, isn't he?"

"Slow as always, aren't we Touko?" A silhouette appeared from the dimness of the room, revealing someone quite tall. Touko remembered this voice as she prepared for a freak out. She covered her eyes and peeked through them. The first thing she saw was long, tea green hair and a male in khakis with a white, clean shirt. Cheren gripped onto Touko's arm and flinched in surprise.

"MY GOD, TOUKO ARE YOU SEEING THIS!? IT'S N!", Cheren exclaimed heavily, removing his glasses & wiping them from a cloth from his back pocket before putting them back on. "I don't think my glasses are cleaned correctly…"

Cheren pinched himself before he did Touko. Before they knew it, they were pinching each other, hopping up and down in trepidation. Touko felt like an idiot but she needed reassurance that this wasn't a lie… She felt like she was in a dream. Was N really standing in front of them or was she just dreaming about him again?

_Man, I wonder if Touya gave me some psychic power or something… I knew this was coming_, she thought.

Ghetsis and N stared at each other. The resemblance was similar, as they both looked at each other with sharp stares, then turned back at Cheren and Touko.

_Gah, I wonder what's happening with them now_, N thought.

"Hey, stop causing so much disorder, it's me, N! I knew you guys would remember me. I was called back by father for some odd reason.. I thought he was going to leave me be, I guess not. Anything to please father though, right? How do you all do? Oh wait, not a time for chit chat, in fact, I was going to see what all the fuss was about." N finally turned around to walk back to what he had been previously doing, then stopped only to say something quite elementary: "Nice seeing you though, Touko."

The sound of his voice actually made Touko feel a bit disgusted. She flinched after seeing this man and wondered what he was doing, although he walked off. She just covered her forehead and turned to Cheren.

"So then, Cheren… Allow me to explain," she confessed. "Ghetsis met with me earlier, although I rejected his preposition.. He wanted me to make friends with N and I did not stand the thought of that so I rejected on the spot. I didn't consider it true when he told me he was going to try and take over Unova. Tell me, what did he do?"

Cheren sighed and pushed his glasses back, "Team Plasma threatened to carry on their plans on supporting Ghetsis with ruling the world. Isn't that right Ghetsis? Is it not what you told me when you marched into my city, trying to steal all of the children's Pokémon?"

Ghetsis chuckled as he thought, _this boy is smarter than I thought, being able to sense my plans before he even saw what happened. _

"True, but what do you say Touko? Take my son N and stay with him?," Ghetsis replied. "You'll thank me eventually Touko… but if you do not accept, I will continue to reign over Unova to no end."

She had to contemplate on it for a couple of seconds. If it was to help everyone, she had to do it. He didn't ask anyone else but her to do it. She wondered why though, since it was quite out of the ordinary for anyone to think of Touko in such importance.

"Fine. Where shall he reside?"

"With you, child."

Cheren and Touko both shot their chins to the ground out of surprise.

_WHY ME?!_

_WHY HER?!_

N walked back out wondering what the noise was about again. Ghetsis smiled and directed the young man towards Touko, putting her hands in front of her and gesturing that she didn't want him.

"My Lord N… Leaving so soon right after coming back?" said the familiar voice.

Touko identified her as Concordia, the same woman who helped her out while heading up to battle N. She was quite beautiful, though it didn't faze her much.

Concordia walked from the right of Touko, smirking, as if she had any idea what was going on.

_Hmmph, Ghetsis has some nerve to be sending Lord N to some girl like her_, Concordia thought.

"C-Concordia..", N stuttered, with him blushing a bit. "I don't know what you're talking about, I'll be staying here with you again."

Touko felt as if he had somewhat of an attraction to her but she didn't bother much to think about it. She was thinking about why N was in her mind so much.

"Oh N, you are so naïve." Concordia wiped her non-existent tears off of her face, or rather, they seemed non-existent to Touko. "Ghetsis has arranged for you to stay with Touko. Have you not heard?"

N's eyes widened as Ghetsis chuckled a bit, not caring about N's reaction. He seemed to not care for his son, although he did at the same time. Still, Touko wondered why she had to stay with N. Why N?

N stroked his chin thinking quietly to himself,_ I can't stand seeing this girl, why do I have to live with her?_

Concordia grabbed onto N, giving him a tight hug. N seemed to not be pleased by the hug. Cheren turned around and signaled for Touko to just leave.

"N! It's late, I wanna go home now. So if you wanna come.. c-come now or you won't come at all!" Touko blurted.

She grabbed Cheren by the hand, turned around, and marched off, wanting to go home.

"Touko, are you okay with this? Remember, I'm here if you n—" Touko stopped as Cheren later did the same.

"Cheren.. I think I need some fresh air, you should go home now! I'm sorry I'm acting so weird."

Touko pushed Cheren forward. As they reached the beach, she pushed him onto land rather than on sand. Cheren looked back and didn't say a single word to her, then marched off. She plumped into the sand, not allowing herself to get back up.

She was trying to figure out why she wanted to be alone so bad. She never felt the way she did now.. highly mystified. She took off her shoes and sat under the magnificent, grand sky, feeling the soft sand on her skin which caused her to moan a bit from the relief it brought to her. The waves softly hit her feet which was quite relaxing to her. She dozed off with the time flying past her.

.

Finally, Touko woke up, not realizing how much time had passed by. She yawned and sat up a bit then walked back home. While trying to open the door, a shadow emerged from behind which seemed to be breathing her on the shoulder. She turned around and flinched as high as she ever did, seeing N with a briefcase and something else.

"I'm not happy living with you also, so don't push the anger on me, do it to my father. I'm not his lord so he can't exactly obey my commands. Just tell me where to sleep and what to do and I'll try not to bother you," he whispered. "I just don't know why you can't put the past away, Touko…"

She looked at him wanly. He knew that she had been through a lot and she kept straining herself over it.

_Maybe I should see what his reaction is if I make him sleep outside…_

Touko unlocked the door and opened it slowly. She turned around, making her face visible to N. He looked at her in a quizzical way, though he waited for the outcome.

"So, since you're living with me now, you can sleep outside; good night~!"

She slammed the door shut in his face, N standing there without a single strand of amusement.

_Hmm, looks like it won't be easy living with her_, he thought, while he embraced the cool, raging wind, ignoring all Touko did to him.

On the other side of the door, Touko peeked through the peephole to see how N was doing. She didn't feel bad at all for keeping him out though a little part of her told her to open the door and let him actually _enjoy_ his stay.

Touko walked to the kitchen, boiling some water to make some tea. She thought to herself irrationally. Why did he have to stay with her? They both couldn't stand each other so what was the point of trying to make them like each other?

After a couple of minutes, she felt straight up guilt. It shot her more in the sides than it did in her heart. It made her tremble a bit, which made her run directly to the door. She opened it and started to apologize more than she had ever needed to do in her entire life.

"I'm so sorry, N, forgive me! You're right, we're both not happy with living with each other but we have to do it for the sake of Unova…"

He stared at her for 10 seconds with a dull look on his face. Touko wondered why he didn't say anything until she realized that he was still standing outside of the door.

"Oh!" Touko repeatedly bowed down to him as he walked in, him seeming quite unaffected by it. "P-Please come in & I'll be with you shortly."

N scanned the villa. Right, left, right, left. He wasn't familiar with the place, as his room was the same one he had ever since he was a little child: toys thrown around left and right, train track pieces laying around, splashes of colour. All he saw in front of him was just a bunch of plain, adulthood stuffed into the room. He saw things he's never seen before, though he knew how to use them anyway. The room was splashed with black, white and red. Plain was written all over the room. There was a leather couch in the corner with a flat screen against the wall. The kitchen was highly interesting, as he had been reminded of memories.

Touko stared at the ground until he decided to say something. She worried that he wouldn't like the place. Touko didn't really mess around with the villa much, especially since she was alone. There was no mess to be made and she was barely ever downstairs. She thought that perhaps he would be fine with it.

N started messing around with his briefcase zipper, "Where's my room, if I may know?"

Touko pointed up the curving staircase in the middle of the room. They both looked up in awe, Touko pretending like she's never seen one before.

"Just come with me," she replied, walking up the steps ever so slowly. She seemed tired and as if she didn't want to show him around.

N looked around at the walls as he went up the stairs. Paintings? Art? He had never seen such beauty in a house before, even if it was plain. This was all still very new to him.

Touko walked up the stairs, showing each room individually.

"So… this is an empty room, then as we proceed, this is another empty room. In this one, there is also nothing of interest, along with this one," she giggled due to the fact that all the doors were shut with N unable to peer through the glass windows with Touko rushing down the hallway.

Touko wasn't that familiar with the villa, even after seven years of Caitlin giving it to her. She only stayed in her room, library, bathroom or office. The other rooms were just all plain, none she liked.

"But seriously now," she continued. "There are ten rooms here. This first room is unoccupied, as are all the next 3 rooms. The room after that is MY room. The room after my room is unoccupied as well. Both lead to the veranda and both share a master bathroom as well. The next room after this… is my office, then the other being a separate bathroom… then here's the library and last but not least, the next 2 rooms are unoccupied."

N scratched his head in amazement as he looked around. The hallway had doors, in which the doors had glass windows. There was a mirror in the hallway. It wasn't something he was used to.

"Here, you will sleep next to my room…" Touko directed him inside.

As they both looked, the room was quite plain. Everything was just white. He gawked at the bed and rubbed his eyes.

"You have got to be kidding me! This room has no colour! How could you do such a thing?!"

Touko glared at him evilly, "TAKE IT OR DON'T TAKE IT, THIS IS ALL! Now keep your 'ideals' away from my 'truths' or we're going to have a problem, N."

She left the door open and marched back downstairs.

N sighed and walked in. He placed his briefcase on the desk provided, although it was plain. It looked lonely sitting there, so he decided that he should make it look like it was being occupied. He unpacked his briefcase, shifting papers, pens and such around. He pulled out a book and a journal.

"She truly has some nerve to say that," he muttered. "This sounds so horrible, why would father even do this?! Well, at least I have enough peace to do some work..."

He unclipped the cube off of his belt and started to examine it a bit. He started to look dreamily at the cube, yet he wrote at the same time as he looked at it. He faded off into another world, not realizing what he was doing.

Touko was still in the kitchen, drinking some tea. She felt a little bad for not realizing that the room was like that, but she had no choice but to put him in there. In her mind, she was determined of completing the task that Ghetsis put her up to: becoming his friend and showing him how humans are naturally. The thought of doing this upset her so; she didn't know where to start. Friends? It was impossible.

She sighed very heavily, taking the cup of tea with her upstairs, dragging her feet as she walked up every step. When she got to the top, she walked a bit faster to glare into N's room. The doors were glass which made spying easier for Touko. He appeared to be writing in a book of some sort. After she looked, she went back to her room and placed the tea on a white, lacey coaster.

"Finally, my room… I have missed you so," she whispered. She sat on her soft yet gloomy bed and looked at the ceiling, which held a small string, attached to a chandelier of some sort.

Braviary seemed to have fell asleep as Touko was gone, surprisingly not being disturbed by Touko as she walked into the room. She stood back up and tucked him in a bed, similar to Touko's.

She shut off her lights and finished off the last bit of her tea. N smiled at his journal and walked into bed, immediately slipping away underneath the warm covers as he peered out the window.

Both N and Touko laid in their respective beds, calm and collectively.

_I wonder what tomorrow holds... _they thought, then drifted off to another world.


	2. Chapter 2

"Touya, what are you doing here?"

"I've come back to seek revenge, my dear step sister. Have you any idea what you've been missing out on? Me of course right?"

"No! Go away; I don't want your tainted hands on me…"

"You can't run away, I can do whatever I want, it's just the two of us, Touko…"

"You think you can do whatever you want, now that mom is out of the picture?"

"I was always able to do what I want, I was just being careful so she wouldn't be hurt anymore."

"Get off, don't touch me!"

..

Touko shot out of bed, not realizing what had happened. She had a nightmare, one with Touya in it. The clock showed that it was late in the afternoon, which shocked her, wondering why she had woken up so late, yet slept so early.

She stormed into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. The door that lead to N's room seemed to be untouched, as she was glad it was.

While shaking, she slowly turned on the faucet, splashing water over her face. After looking into the mirror again, she saw an image of Touya, smirking at her. Seeing this image got her caught up in fear, as she ran out and plopped back in bed.

Braviary had already woken up due to her nightmare, although she would have never known what she did, after all, she was asleep. He comforted her as she cried a bit, N peeking through the glass door and knocking at it.

_If she keeps going, I don't think I can stand this anymore_, N sighed.

Touko growled at her hands, a substitute to calm her as she stood up to open the door.

"Hey, do you mind keeping it down a bit? You're distracting me from my work."

After hearing this, Touko squinted her eyes at him, "What are you talking about? It wasn't like I said anything; I just woke up…"

N sarcastically laughed and peered at me evilly, "Really now? You were just screaming someone's name just now; tell me you didn't say anything, once more!"

Touko froze, as she realized that she actually… no, possibly had a nightmare. She demanded to know more, as it was arousing her curiosity and bothering her.

She flinched, "What? What was I screaming and saying?"

"…"

"I'm serious! What happened? I don't recall yelling…"

N glared at her even more, causing some kind of staring contest between the both of them as he replied, "Touya. Stop. Please stop. Don't touch me. AH!"

He mocked Touko to her dismay. She shut the door on his face as he walked off to his room, seeming quite annoyed. She couldn't do much because now, she thought that Touya was abusing her in her dreams and not physically anymore. The thought of Touya made her shiver, as it seemed like he was watching her at that moment. She trembled and fell onto her bed, hugging her chest. Braviary hugged her as he played with her hair.

"Why is everything bad happening all of a sudden?"

She whispered to herself softly, which made her seem quite insane, but she didn't care, she was frightened. She flinched even more after hearing the phone ring.

She flipped out of her bed and reached for her head, then the phone. She knew that she should have told N to answer the phone for her when she couldn't, but she instantly straightened her voice to make it sound like she didn't have anything wrong with her yet she stuttered a bit.

"H-Hello… Touko speaking, how may I help you this fine morning?" She started to sink into her, as her head was aching her.

"_May I speak to Lord N, Madame Touko_?" said the unknown voice. Touko noticed that it was a male speaking, as she blushed a bit from the address part.

"Y-yes you may! Hold on please," she squealed, as she struggled opening her own door out of surprise. She then knocked on N's door. He glared at her, feeling in a sullen mood.

"Go. Away."

Touko's eyes lit on fire as she banged on the door a couple of more times.

"Just answer the phone or else you're gonna get it!"

His eyes shot open at the phone on his desk as he picked it up. Touko ran back to her room to eavesdrop on the conversation. She failed desperately as she tried to mute her phone, but instead, made chatter, which made her flinch as she hung up the phone.

_Really? Was she trying to spy on me?_ N thought to himself as he was talking on the phone.

Touko was becoming really impatient, as she truly wanted to know what was going on. She wanted to pick up the phone but she was too scared that he would notice. Still, Touko refrained from doing so, even if this was the first time she had fun in a while. She was no longer enveloped in loneliness, but in a bit of a happy mood now.

As the phone clicked, Touko pushed her head to the side of the wall. She was super curious to know. Of course the conversation was over so how could she listen to anything? She sat back down and laid in bed, doing some irrational thinking like she always did when she was having no excitement.

_Man, being an adult sucks… I'll never have any fun…_

Her face smacked against her pillow as Braviary looked outside the window for a while. He spotted nothing until an hour later,

he noticed a man with some suitcases, which was quite suspicious. Touko stood up when Braviary freaked out and saw the man. Her eyes opened as her jaw dropped to the ground. As this went on, N walked past Touko's door, not taking notice of her reaction, as he opened the front door and walked outside, slowly approaching the man.

Touko, being curious, went to her closet to change out of her gown. What should she wear? It wasn't like it was important so she shot out of her room and peered off the veranda, hopping on the border of the railing. They looked like they were doing an exchange, though it was just N's garments she assumed.

"How long does he even plan on living here?" Touko slipped off of the railing and back onto the veranda, ensuring her safety. Braviary patted her shoulder as she walked inside, looking down at the ground the entire time. He decided to stay on the veranda, looking out into the distance for something quite out of the ordinary. As he was doing so, he spotted a female with long blond hair and alerted Touko.

N walked inside, dragging in a couple of suitcases. He started to become more annoyed every time he thought about living in the villa.

_How long does father plan on me living here? This woman is crazy… _

He gave himself a facepalm then he carried two suitcases at a time. Touko flew from her room, running down the stairs from the opposite end, trying to see who the mysterious girl was, the very same one that was coming from 'civilization'. She suddenly tripped, as she skipped a stair, surprisingly the first one from the top.

"GAHHHHH, HELP!" She called as N's eyes shot open.

He threw his suitcases off of the staircase and ran up, catching her before she could even hit the ground.

_What a nuisance, she's just as clumsy as Concordia_, he thought, as he put her down the stairs, walking back down with her.

"You know, sometimes I wonder what happened to your intelligence. Did it disappear when I left?"

She twisted around, frozen yet clenching her fist and pulling it up to her face. He ignored it, walking past her down the stairs, grabbing two suitcases then passing her by one more time.

_Does he truly have the nerve to do such a thing? _

She walked down the steps completely, slowly and carefully as she didn't want to fall once again. N touching her? Disgusting. She didn't want it happening again, as it even felt like Touya was grabbing onto her. Those were two people she didn't want touching her again.

Touko shook her head constantly and opened the door. The woman with long blonde hair had showed up, along with a bag and a green hat. It was Bianca after such a long time.

"Wow, Touko, you've grown really pretty after these years you know!" Bianca hugged Touko tight, letting go after five seconds of recollecting memories. Touko blushed heavily, scratching the back of her head.

They smiled at each other and couldn't believe they were standing before each other. Touko examined her everywhere, noticing how much her hair grew, how much more mature she looked. She hadn't seen Bianca in a couple of years due to her research being held all over the world, especially Kanto and Johto. Bianca also married an unknown professor in another region.

"T-thank you, Bianca!"

In her bag, Bianca pulled out four Pokéballs. Surprisingly, they all seemed familiar to Touko.

"Hmmm, what are those for…? Is that why you visited?"

"These are your Pokémon, Touko," she giggled. "Thank Cheren, he reminded me to give them back, after all, they were accidentally in my bag when I left a few years ago. They all remembered me gladly… so I took care of them!"

_Cheren really was looking out for me_, Touko thought, as she blushed and smiled calmly.

Bianca gave her all of the Pokéballs and glared all over the villa.

"I can believe Cheren when he says you're lonely now. After all, this villa is the size of our old houses times ten! I hope your Pokémon are happy with you, as you better be happy yourself!"

Bianca blinked then looked to her left. She gawked then shot her eyes at N. Touko dropped the Pokéballs on the ground after she realized what was happening, then curled up into a ball on the floor.

"W-WHAT? What is he doing here, Touko!" Bianca flinched and tried to help Touko. N was too busy trying to pick up his suitcases to care what was going on at the door, not giving off a reaction at what had happened.

"Bianca, it's a long story," Touko replied, as she picked up the Pokéballs, still curled up on the ground. "Ask Cheren or something! Also, come back tomorrow if you can… A-AND BRING CHEREN!"

Touko shot up like a firework, pushing a frozen Bianca out the door as N still ignored them, picking up the last two of his suitcases. She ignored him as well, walking up the stairs directly before he did while examining the Pokéballs that once accompanied her. She sighed then walked up slowly, him following behind.

As they approached their rooms, Touko stood in front of hers, not prone to move at all. N opened his door, putting the last couple of suitcases in. Their doors were a couple of yards apart, though the sound easily seeped through the villa. Touko heard the 'click' on his door, signaling to go forth into her sanctuary, checking on her Pokémon. She had so much space in her room that it wouldn't have mattered if the Pokémon wanted to stay with her or not.

While a sigh slipped out of her mouth, she threw all the Pokéballs in the air, all releasing her Pokémon. There was her huge Arcanine, a brave Lucario, a sparkling Luxray, and a tall Gallade. Touko smiled, happy to see her comrades from many years ago as she called them back to their Pokéballs. She smiled and flipped onto her bed.

N, on the other hand, had gotten quite annoyed with Touko, as he was still able to hear the voices of Pokémon around him. He looked down on the floor, where his suitcases laid. He sighed, as he knew Concordia did it all for him. She did everything for him, even up until now. He felt sad because he missed his loyal 'servant' who seemed almost like someone close to him. He still didn't understand love, even after leaving for so long, he never understood.

He unpacked his clothing slowly, one suitcase after another. Each suitcase he opened contained clothing. The very last one was left untouched, as he knew something special was probably contained in it. It was light when he carried it up the stairs, why would it have been clothing? The silence took over, even as he tried to open up his suitcase. Inside, a Pokéball, a note and a couple more bits of clothing.

N's eyes stared blankly at the note as sudden emotionless feelings overcame him. He swallowed, opened the note and read it aloud but softly.

"Dear Lord N, your presence shall be missed here once again. This time, you were forced to leave, not being able to have a say in such an absurd request. Eventually, something will happen to me if I cannot see you again… But remember, you will no longer have anyone by your side to do anything for you anymore. Remember everything that I had taught you, going to the bathroom, keeping everything clean, not being loud and try to be nice. We grew up together as children with Anthea, remember? Don't forget. We're all waiting for you."

He grabbed the note harder, glaring at it as he clenched his teeth, trying to read a bit softer without tensing up. He couldn't tell if he was making up sympathy for her or if it was real.

"Here, I have placed your Pokéball somewhere hidden underneath clothing in order to keep it safe. If you can remember your childhood, you would know what Pokémon lies inside of this ball. I shall be waiting for your arrival. Also, the reason why you left was to gain emotion and learn the ways of humans. Make friends with the pathetic girl. The faster you do it, the faster you get home. Hurry, for me. Concordia."

N looked dreamily at the paper, not realizing what he had read. He couldn't tell if Concordia was trying to warn him about something or if she was expressing emotion to him. He didn't even know what emotion was, just sadness, loneliness and anger. He ignored the Pokéball and set it aside on his desk.

Thoughts ran through his mind, trying to block out what he had read. Emotions? Useless to him. He always thought they got in the way of everything and they made people weaker. His mindset was the same as his father. He still couldn't believe that his father wanted him to live with Touko though. He didn't want to make friends, as they were opposed to each other. They didn't click and they were both so different. N's head shook furiously, finally snapping out of his thinking.

The silence broke finally when he heard footsteps, walking outside his door. It was Touko of course, walking to her library along with some books in her hand.

He lightly opened the door to quickly look at what she was doing. After she had walked out, he slipped back inside of his room, pretending he wasn't looking. Touko heard a click, so she walked immediately to N's room, peeking through the glass window. He noticed her at the corner of his eye, pretending to do some work.

Touko sighed then turned to her room. She opened the door slightly, hearing a grumble noise of some sort.

_GAH, I'm hungry! What shall I do! _

She rushed down the stairs and looked into the fridge, realizing it was empty. She huddled onto the ground, ashamed to find no food. She ran to the pantry, nothing. She looked in the fruit bowl, nothing. There was no food around and she never left the house. Normally, Cheren would come by once a week with groceries, but he didn't show up today. Where could he have been?

A thought enlightened Touko at that moment which caused her to run towards the phone, dialing up Cheren's number as fast as possible. The time slowly passed by as the phone rang.

Cheren finally picked up the phone, in a quite tired manner, "_Touko? What's wrong?_"

"I-I'm hungry! Please, get me something before I die!" She over exaggerated, which caught the attention of N above the steps. He slowly stepped outside of the room and plopped on the ground, trying to eavesdrop on the conversation.

_She forces Cheren to do her outside work doesn't she_… N thought, as he carefully tried to make little noise as possible.

"_Oh yeah… that's what I meant to do this morning when I woke up_," he replied. "_I'll be over there in one hour, just wait okay? and be nice to N or.. you know what's going to happen._"

The phone clicked. Cheren was too busy to notice that Touko was out of food the day before, as he hadn't checked the pantry or the fridge when he arrived.

Touko sighed of relief, as N walked down the stairs. She looked at him with shock, wondering if he heard the conversation, as N ignored her, walking toward the door.

She waved her hands as an attempt to grab his attention, "H-hey! Where are you going? Come back here!"

He turned around and smirked, "I can see you, but who are you to tell me where to go?"

The door shut behind him as he continued to walk off without a care in the world. Touko had a tantrum as her chest started to tighten up. She stormed upstairs and shut the door behind her as she walked into her room. She headed straight for the veranda, hurrying up to slide the glass door.

While attached to the railing, she saw him headed left, north to the main road. She pouted, as she didn't want to be left alone once again, especially since it was almost nightfall. Touko walked back inside sitting next to the front door curled up into a ball.

N looked back once he reached the other side of the rock walls. He looked blankly and walked off without a trace.

.

As an hour or so passed, Cheren opened the door and saw Touko laying on the ground. He pushed his glasses back and shook her around, as she seemed to be spaced out a bit.

"Touko, what did I tell you about doing stuff like this?" Cheren lifted her up as she tried to stand up properly. She looked down at the floor as if she was worried about something.

"I'm sorry… I was just wondering why N walked off. I guess my irrational thinking got to me this time, didn't it? Hah…"

Touko sat on the couch as Cheren walked to the kitchen, placing different foods and drinks in the places where they belonged. He lifted an apron off of the kitchen island, put it on himself and pulled out a couple of pots and ladles. Then, he pulled out a box from the bags he brought in, wielding many small berries that didn't seem of this region.

_Really now… why does Cheren keep looking out for me? He didn't have to go the extra mile and cook for me_, she thought.

Cheren stared at Touko the entire time he was there, frequently checking up on her as he made her a stew.

Touko smelled many scents as she was trying to regain control of herself. She enjoyed Cheren's cooking very much, although she didn't always want him to do everything for her. Sure, he was older than her, but not by too much. She was always restricted from going outside due to her fear of bumping into someone like Touya. No, maybe just Touya. She stood up and scurried to the kitchen, unable to resist the highly attracting aroma.

"Mmmm! That smells nice, what are you making?"

She leaned in closer into the pot, almost falling into it as Cheren pushed his glasses closer to his face, doing the same to Touko, though he pushed her further away from him.

"It's something to make you smile again."

Touko placed her hand onto her heart and smiled. Cheren had never said anything as sweet as that to her. Well, at least that's the first time she heard something about her coming from his mouth that sounded nice.

He pushed her to the small dining table as he turned back to the kitchen, flipping on the oven with a teapot that was hardly empty. The dinner was almost complete, all he needed to do was make some tea and everything would have been set for both of them.

Right after three minutes of staring at Touko, Cheren pulled out two of what he needed, bowls, spoons, cups and napkins. Touko was quite prepared, as she had waited about two hours to eat. He carefully poured an equal amount of stew in each bowl, leaving some leftover just in case Touko needed more later. Then, he poured an equal amount of water into the cups, then grabbing two of Touko's favourite, jasmine teabags and threw them into the cups. Without hesitation, he then placed everything on the table, Touko's eyes already lighting up as her stomach growled to no end. Still, Cheren gave not even a slight bit of emotion as he did everything.

They ate peacefully. Well, Touko kind of did, but Cheren enjoyed sitting with her, as he didn't eat all day himself.

After eating their meals, Cheren took everything up, walked to the sink and washed all of it. Still, Touko didn't want him to always do everything for her, as she was old enough to do it herself. All she needed was a bit of hope and she could have gotten up on her feet to do whatever.

Touko looked at her feet, as she was kneeling sitting in fetal position on the chair.

"C-Cheren?" She blushed a bit, then looked down at her feet even more.

"Yes Touko? Something the matter?" He replied, as he finished washing the last of the dishes. Touko covered her face, as she didn't want to seem like a creeper, especially since she was blushing for no reason.

"Thank you for giving that to me," she smiled. "It made me happier than before.. if you still couldn't notice."

He turned over to her for a mere five seconds, then back slowly, "I wasn't kidding when I told you it would make you smile. I have eyes on the back of my head, by the way." Touko flinched, as she didn't know if he was telling the truth or not.

"I knew you were gullible to believe that," he chuckled. "You know that stew was made out of Lansat Berries; they're said to make someone filled with joy if you hold it long enough or if you eat it."

Touko blushed even more, as Cheren made a joke for the first time in eleven years. He was always too serious since they turned nine. He distanced from Bianca and Touko as his interest for becoming a Pokémon trainer got in the way.

"Lansat berries?" She widened her eyes as she tilted her head. She had never heard of such before.

Cheren nodded, "They're actually from Hoenn apparently. I got them earlier today actually, I wanted to give them to you without you knowing what it was."

Touko smiled but Cheren wasn't looking in her direction. He was too busy putting things together in her kitchen to notice, though he was paying attention to what she was saying.

"Thanks for looking out for me Cheren," she smiled, as she stood up, pushing her chair back underneath the small black table.

Finally, Cheren turned around and gave a noticeable smile as he removed the apron and picked up his bags.

"It's okay… remember, I'm just listening to what your mother told me to do, take care of you while she's in the hospital, right? Good night, Touko."

He walked towards Touko, wiping her hair out her face as she looked down at the white, glossy floor. The door opened, then shut leaving Touko alone.

At the split second of hearing the click, she walked to the door and sunk on the floor, curling up into a ball. Loneliness swallowed her once again, especially since there was no one around again.

"Why am I so weak? What would N even do if he came back? What's the point of relying on someone I'm not supposed to like? He probably hates me for all I know," she whimpered, sniffing repeatedly.

There wasn't even a thought to lock the door, as probably N would have shown up. At least she hope he would, as she finally remembered that her mother was in the hospital. As much as she tried to forget, she still couldn't. She didn't blame Cheren for bringing it up, as he was right, that was the only reason why he was always helping Touko out. Not because he wanted to, but because he was told to. At least she thought so. Wasn't it true? Thinking messed her up as she started to sniff more, eventually causing her to cry.

The silence still had not returned as the villa was filled with the atmosphere of sadness, Touko's echoes flooding the hallways. She stayed there and eventually fell asleep after releasing emotional pain.

.

The door, which stayed unlock, finally opened after the clock struck midnight. N silently snuck in, as he thought that the door was going to be locked. He was wrong, Touko forgot to lock it as Cheren left, making it so he wouldn't have to stress too much about the door.

As he removed his shoes, he saw Touko, laying next to the shoe box, sleeping comfortably even though she was on a cold floor. He looked down and sighed, looking quite sad, dropping the bag that he brought in next to her. He immediately took off his shoes as fast as possible, sliding them in the slots provided. Touko didn't make a sound, even after all the noise he made.

N's hand lightly pressed against Touko's head. It was warm. She had a fever but it was no surprise, especially since she was wearing shorts and a tank top while 'napping' by the slit of the door. Without hesitation, he picked her up without any trouble, walking up the staircase gently.

_Did she wait for me to come back? I don't want her to become close to me_, he thought, finally making way to his door. He lightly placed her on the ground as he opened the door, trying not to awaken her.

He heard a sniff come from her then flinched, trying not to make a noise. He picked her back up and placed her on his bed. N felt quite guilty, as he still thought that she stayed up for him. She even got sick doing so, which made him have to stay with her.

N walked downstairs, picking up the back he had previously threw on the ground. He walked into the kitchen and opened up the fridge, glaring inside. Cheren came over, as the food in the pantry and fridge implied it all. N still didn't care, he looked into the bag that he brought in with him, containing a box filled with spring rolls. The thoughts immediately started smashing him in the head, as he knew he was being kind to someone he didn't want to be kind to, though he took too long to bring back food to her. He had been out for several hours, but he didn't intend to come home early anyway, as he had walked all the way to Nimbasa to retrieve it.

After all the thinking he did, he shoved the box into the fridge and headed straight to the sink. The first thing that came to mind was to get her to cool down by putting a rag on her head, as Concordia always did for him. He used everything he learned previously and tried to help Touko to the best of his ability.

He ran up the steps as quickly as possible, as he started to gain emotions, specifically guilt, as she didn't have to sit there and wait.

The door to his room was slightly cracked open already, not closing it from before. He flinched as he thought she woke up but realized that she was still laying down, unconscious. The door clicked as a heavy sigh escaped from his lips; the troubled man wiped her hair out of her face, placing a wet rag on her forehead. Emotions started to pile up upon one and other while he sat sat down at his desk.

N felt quite exhausted, especially after all that walking and possibly running, but he couldn't sleep in his bed; he didn't deserve it, he thought. His guilt finally covered him to the point that he didn't even feel like sleeping; he was sleep deprived.

His head eventually fell down onto his desk, as he couldn't take reading his paperwork any longer. He drifted off slowly, his eyes slowly closing as he stopped worrying about Touko. Then, he opened his eyes suddenly as he heard sniffing.

N turned around, staring at Touko, the source of the noise. He stared at her with his eyes still somewhat open. She cried a bit as she slept, mumbling words.

"T-Touya…"

Her saddened voice finally led N to feel the emotion of concern, one he hadn't felt since he was young until he returned to Unova. He stood up, looking at her yet not knowing what to do. After examining her for a mere three seconds, N sat back down at his desk, trying to sleep. He finally drifted off, trying his best to block out everything.

.

Touko woke up to an unusual scent. It certainly wasn't hers, but it smelled nice. She laid somewhere that she knew wasn't anywhere she was familiar with. She woke up, feeling quite tired and sickly but laid there even longer. Something was sitting on her head that was unknown to her as well. Her soft hands felt it, as she noticed it was a rag. Her eyes finally opened bigger, where she appeared to be in a room in completely white.

"Hmmm, where am I?" She sat up straight, cuddling the white, fluffy pillow that she had laid on.

After looking to her left, she saw a sprinkle of colour: N. Though he was sleeping, she stared at him with no way to control herself. She started feeling secure again, knowing that he was there with her. He was still the enemy but anything that could keep her away from the loneliness that wandered was fine.

Touko looked down at her hands then suddenly, tears rolled down her pale cheeks, not knowing why he decided to help her. She sniffed away and started to whine as she cried, eventually waking N up. He turned to her without her noticing. He rubbed his tired eyes and looked quite content.

"Touko… how are you feeling?" He asked in a welcoming yet mysterious voice. He hadn't learned how to take care of a human correctly, but he thought of it as how he did with the Pokémon in his childhood and how Concordia always treated him.

She rubbed her eyes, wiping away the tears. The crying stopped a bit, as she turned to him cuddled the pillow, looking like a little girl.

"Why did you come back here? You knew you could have stayed away…" Her eyes started to water again, as she thought more and more about it. It became a barrier finally to the point where N couldn't understand what she was saying.

Moments finally pass as the doorbell rings. N and Touko stared at the bedroom door out of surprise. Who could be coming at this time of day?

Touko was the first to remove her eyes off of the door, as she slipped away under the covers and started to sniff a bit. N sighed and stood up, opened the door and walked down the stairs. He was still quite tired, especially since he got little sleep and just woke up.

He opened the door, realizing that it was unlocked all night. He gave himself a facepalm and looked out the door. It was Cheren.

They both shot a glare at each other for a couple of seconds. N looked down as Cheren looked up. Their difference in height wasn't that bad, although, Cheren was about five inches shorter than N, N being about two meters tall.

"Hm, I hate to seem a bit rude but come with me for a sec, we have something to talk about." Cheren demanded that N walked outside. For what reason? N couldn't think of one. Cheren was just some guy that Touko grew up with, what did he need to talk to N about? They had no affiliation whatsoever.

N followed him outside onto the rocky surface, descending below onto the soft, grainy sand. They walked slowly, under trees to hide from the rays of the sun.

Cheren pushed his glasses back as he stared into the extensive sea, "You weren't at the villa last night; where did you go?"

N flinched, scratching his head without hesitating to retaliate with a question, "How did you know?"

"Your shoes weren't there; Touko has 4 pairs of shoes: slippers, heels, flip flops and a pair of sneakers. She always keeps them on the top row of the shoe box."

N's eyes started to sharpen as he turned away from the sea to stare at Cheren in a disgusted expression.

_FFF, how does he know all of that? He's creepy… _he thought, finally thinking of something to say.

"Dear goodness, how do you even know that?" He clenched his fist as he looked directly at Cheren.

"How else? I take care of her, I know my surroundings. She's lived there for quite a few years now, how would I not know where everything is?"

Cheren cleared his throat as N loosened his fist, placing them beside his torso. He contemplated what to ask him. Why did Cheren even pull him outside?

"Honestly, I don't think I would have known what to do if Touko opened that door instead of you.." Cheren finally made eye contact with N instead of staring away at the sea.

"Well, to be reasonable, why did you pull me out here in the first place?"

Cheren smirked a bit, then looked to his right in a quite sly manner, catching N off guard. He sighed then finally gathered the courage to speak his mind.

"You're living with Touko now, you do realize that, correct? I'm quite astounded that she gave up so easily to let you stay with her; I'm quite amazed," Cheren commented, as he pushed his glasses up. "I'd like to tell you something that I have never told anyone. Why you? I don't know actually, it would be amazing to see your reaction, I guess."

N stopped staring at the sea, immediately fixing attention onto Cheren, who also looked immediately at N.

"I'm in love with Touko, got it? If you hurt her, we're going to have a problem," he added.

"It's not like I'm going to fall in love with her; that's the truth," N replied, taking in the beach wind that blew from the crashing of the waves. It seemed as if he wasn't interested in talking to Cheren anymore, though he secretly wanted to know more.

"Well, I'm glad we have an understanding. Speak to Touko about this and we'll have a problem, got it?" Cheren walked off the beach as N stared at him sardonically. He had no idea what went up with Cheren, but he walked back to the villa.


	3. Chapter 3

Touko sat in N's bed, not moving around at all. It was comfortable and she didn't feel so lonely knowing that she was in his room and that he was going to come back. She wondered why he was gone so long though, as it had been ten minutes since he checked the door.

Curious to know where he was, Touko attempted to get out of bed and look off the veranda. One step out of bed and she wobbled, eventually falling back onto the bed. She checked her legs as she finally realized that she was actually too sick to move. She stayed back in his bed, not caring if he tried to force her out, although she doubted that. Finally, she fell asleep once again, not caring about the world any longer.

As Touko fell asleep, N was walking up to the villa, slowly. He was thinking about what Cheren told him. It bothered him very much that he did, especially since it implied that Cheren was hoping N and Touko would be friends. N couldn't quite find a reason as to why he wanted to talk to him for but he accepted it. It meant something to him.

While N approached the door, someone tapped him on the shoulder. As he looked down, he noticed that it was Cheren again. N glared at him quite evilly, trying to recover what had happened previously.

"Hm, I forgot to tell you about her. After all, you're living with her… Anyways, she's twenty, she has a childlike personality. Her mother is currently in the hospital in Castelia. Her step-brother and her have a bad history together. He has brown hair and looks almost like Touko. He's kinda taller than me, shorter than you. Remember? Keep him away from her at all costs. His name is Touya."

N started to loosen up after hearing small details about Touko. He scratched his face as Cheren pushed his glasses back and continued after the former finally showed interest in listening.

"It would be nice if you could feed her often; she does not know how to cook, as now, I am too busy to do it. She gets quite sick, so make sure you watch after her during the night just in case… Oh and sometimes, she has nightmares, but that's normal. She's a bit of an alcoholic, don't let her drink too much; the alcohol's hiding it the highest cupboard on the very right side of the kitchen. Last but not least, she gets lonely a lot so don't leave her alone. She also needs someone to talk to, with that in mind…"

Cheren sighed heavily and turned around, walking quite fast, as N ran after him.

"Hold on! Why are you telling me this?" N called out to Cheren, as he finally turned around. He halted, not turning around to make contact with N.

_Man, this guy is just so different…_ he thought, scratching the back of his head.

"First, you'd be there for her more than I and second, I'm going to Sinnoh. I'm going to visit my father," he replied, slowly walking off. "I'll tell Touko, don't worry… Farewell, N."

"Hold on! I'm not finished with you yet! Stop walking out like you have something to do right now!" He held a fist up to Cheren.

Cheren finally stopped after trying relentlessly to get him to turn around. He sighed, turning around to the quite confused N. N wanted to know so much more and he was going to know right there. It wasn't like Sinnoh was even that far and it wasn't like he had to stay with his parents or at least needed to stay with them.

"What else do you want?"

"You're in love with her. I don't want her; it's like you're allowing me to have her without me knowing."

"Ignorant man," Cheren chuckled. He walked up the rocky slope not caring about what N had said to him at that moment.

That was probably the biggest sacrifice I had to make in so long, Cheren thought, curving and standing still. He spent about ten more minutes trying to enjoy the beach on his last time coming.

N glared at Cheren for one last final time before he opened the door and walked into the villa. The last thing he needed at that moment was getting bitched at by Touko, but he doubted that, as she was sick and could barely even talk.

He took off his shoes as he rushed upstairs, trying to check on Touko as he left for longer than expected. She made no sound, even when he shut the door as loudly as possible, not on purpose.

At the sudden open of the door, he saw Touko, sitting up. She looked quite fine to him, as he started to slowly remember all of the things Cheren told him. He wanted to talk to her about it to see if she would budge.

"Touko, how are you feeling now?"

"I feel fine," she replied, her voice becoming shaky as each second went by. "Why did let me sleep in your bed?"

"If I left you in your room alone, you'd probably cry more," he immediately answered.

Touko stared at the pillow in her grasp. It almost seemed as if he could see through her mind. She started to sniffle, eventually stirring up into a loud wail and crying. N had no idea what to do as he never experienced such things before.

He stood up, causing her cry silently as she looked up at the tall male.

"I can't do anything; I don't know what to do, Touko. Stop crying, please…" She couldn't tell but he was pleading as he stared uncomfortably at her.

Thoughts started to run through his mind as he remembered the encounter with Cheren a couple of minutes ago. Nothing could help him at this moment; his last resort could have actually been physical contact, something he didn't want to feel from Touko. Even if it would have gotten him home faster, he still didn't want leave or to be there for Touko, as she didn't want him to leave or be there for him. They both had complications as emotions became involved between the two of them.

She slowly stopped, finally trying to realize what N was secretly telling her. He didn't want to fall for her and she didn't want to fall for him. Her loneliness finally became a problem to the point where she could have wanted help from anyone. Touya could have been that person. Even then, she just wanted her loneliness to go away and that was only if someone stayed there with her, N being the perfect person to do that for her. N didn't want to make Cheren angry, even if N WAS taller than him and possibly physically stronger, he knew he had become a substitute for him. Letting him down would be the last thing he wanted as no one liked him to begin with.

"Why did you leave so long?"

His face was covered by his hand. N didn't want to tell but hiding it even more wouldn't have worked as lying would have already been caught the moment it was told. He was always told the truth so he wouldn't have known what to say if he was going to lie.

"Cheren was outside…" he replied, feeling some sort of guilt by saying doing so.

He thought that probably Cheren wouldn't have gotten mad if Touko asked, though she only asked once, which didn't give him a really good reason for telling her. Who cared, it had already been told.

Their time together stopped by Touko walking outside of the room, dropping N's pillow on his bed. N didn't even bother looking, as she probably wanted to get some time alone. N understood as he decided laid in his bed, moving over onto one side of the bed just in case Touko wanted to go back in. Her scent was all over his bed, not allowing him to think so easily. All his thoughts were centered on this one girl, one he hadn't even known that long in his entire life.

_I'm probably sick myself. Pathetic_, he thought, taking the pillow and hugging it tightly.

Touko started to walk down the central staircase, headed for the door as her blanket lay on the couch looking as lonely as ever. She took it along with her after a contemplating ten seconds of staring at it. The front door clicked open as she ran outside, leaving the door fully open. He tears started to come down slowly eventually getting faster and eventually turned into a heart breaking wail.

"Cheren!" she yelled, falling into the sand. Gladly, her villa was far away from the public area, so no one took notice of her weeping in the sand.

Cheren, who still stood on the rocks, looked straight at her. It was almost time for him walk off yet he wanted to see what was wrong with her. It was somewhat of a coincidence that after some time, she'd come out yelling for him, especially since he had while worth of talking with N.

Without hesitation, he ran back down, eventually reaching her; the crying had finally filled the entire scenery with sadness. He fell into the sand to hold her hand.

"Stop crying, Touko… It makes it a bit harder for me to leave if you do so," he silently whispered, looking contently at her.

Her crying immediately got silent once she looked at him, tears still slowly seeping out of her eyes. She looked up, grabbing him without caring about what was happening around her. Cheren's eyes widened as his arms slowly wrapped around her body.

"Why did you come here and not see me? I am sick Cheren!" she whined while slapping him in the head. He collapsed as she had tumbled down with him. Touko suddenly smiled more, not feeling so sad or sick any longer.

"I was trying to leave but you called my name," he softly replied, picking himself up along with Touko. "How did you know I was still out here?"

She giggled, "I didn't! I just called to see if you were still here…"

_I guess N didn't tell her after all_, he assumed, lightly wiping the tears out of Touko's eyes.

They both stared at each other dreamily, Cheren leaning over for another hug as the roaring wind blew at them. She blushed and hugged him back out of surprise.

"You're okay right? Why were you crying?" He flooded questions as he couldn't help himself from doing so. He let go of Touko and held her shoulders.

"Well, I'm fine now that you're here… and I was feeling a bit sad. I didn't want to turn to N to comfort, I don't want to…"

Touko's hands continuously lifted up sand as it seeped from in between her fingers. She started to look down at the sand more, sniffing away as Cheren contemplated on what to say.

"I was kind of going to wait until later tonight to tell you something but… trust me, become friends with him, okay? It's the only thing you can do for now."

"But why, why do I have to start looking to him for help?" She silently crossed her chest with her hands, yelling and crying out of discomfort. "If you're here, you're all I need; you're my best friend, remember?"

Cheren, still not giving off a reaction, pushed his glasses back and looked straight at her.

"Touko, I know, but please, try to work something out with N and stop relying on me so much. I can't always be around for you…"

"What are you trying to say? It's not like you're going to leave me forever right?"

Cheren coughed and looked down into the sand. He was at a loss of words as he had to either tell her now or make up a lie and tell her later. There was no more such thing as later.

"Well… I'm going to Sinnoh for a while. It's to go see dad, okay? Something's gone up with him and they told me to go. It's quite strange how he went back home without telling me about anything."

Touko raised Cheren's head and stopped crying. He looked at her in surprise as she smiled and stood up.

"Alright Cheren, if you say so! I'll be here and I'll start being brave now, okay? I promise! Now go see your father and make sure you tell him how much of a great person you've become, alright?"

Cheren stood up and turned around, actually quite surprised at such a transformation she gave in such a short time. He wiped back his hair and finally turned around, revealing a smile that he hadn't given off in his entire life time. This radiant smile gave Touko hope that everything would work out with N if she tried.

"Good, I'll be on my way now…" He turned back around and walked off, not looking back any longer.

_She'll never feel the same way for me. I just know it._

Touko looked at him as he walked off but she didn't regain herself as she ran off to him, hugging his back for the very last time she thought she might've been seeing him in a while.

"Call me if anything, alright?" she added, letting go of him slowly.

She turned around as he continued walking. Touko smiled as she ran back to grab her blanket from the spot they found each other in. She finally decided that perhaps she should just work it out with N, although there was still a small side of her trying not to do anything about it. Being friends also meant not falling in love, so she tried to refrain from doing so.

Touko finally walked up to the villa, realizing that the door was open the entire time. She dropped her blanket from actually recalling her doing so, but ignored it and walked back inside, wiping her feet on the tiny, white floor mat. Her happiness finally arose and she decided to apologize and give thanks to N for helping her out. She ran up the stairs, this time not tripping as she went up.

N's door was still open from when she left. She peered inside, looking for N until she noticed him sleeping in his bed. Touko giggled and walked toward his bed, throwing her blanket on the ground. After peering at the clock, she noticed that it was still the late afternoon. Not caring much, she slowly slipped into N's bed.

Touko looked at him as he flipped to her direction. She smiled and moved his hair out of his eyes as she looked into them. Her initial idea was to scare him so she wouldn't have to wait until he woke up. She moved in closer to his face.

"If you're going to kiss me, back off."

"I WASN'T GOING TO KISS YOU!" She flinched off of the bed, turning into a tomato as she did so. He sat up and picked his ear, looking quite tired and glared at the time.

Touko looked at him as he looked toward the clock. She never kissed anyone since she was young, but that was only a dare. It was Cheren who she kissed, but it was only for half a second, as they both didn't want to make it become awkward between them.

N gave himself a facepalm as he remembered the last time he got a kiss as well. Concordia snuck in his room as a child and kissed him when he was acting to be asleep. He felt quite uncomfortable thinking about kissing Touko; it already wasn't comfortable to think about Concordia doing so, which was why he acted out at Touko's actions.

"Then why did you move my hair out of my face?" He asked while closing his eyes, his body connecting back to the bed.

"I-I was just going to say thank you for what you did earlier," she replied. "Also, sorry for acting like such a crybaby earlier… I actually didn't know what was going on with me when I was crying. I guess I was just expressing my thanks emotionally…"

N sighed heavily turning around to stare at a smiling Touko. She was truly happy that he was living with her, though he couldn't tell. He just really wanted to go back, even if he was supposed to be keeping her occupied until Cheren came back. Nothing made sense anymore as all he did was chase more ideals as his mind started unleashing more.

"Get out of my room." He sat up and stared at her.

"You won't make friends if you keep acting the way you do!" Touko grabbed her blanket and walked out of the room, still smiling at him. Nothing made sense to her but she was glad that he acted in his normal ways.

After shutting N's door, Touko walked down the staircase and walked straight for the stove, Cheren's soup still sitting there untouched. Her eyes glared at the stove clock though, as she normally didn't start eating dinner until it was around evening time. Still, she was too hungry to resist. The stove turned onto high and sat there for ten minutes as Touko made some tea.

It was not until three minutes into Touko doing so that alerted N out of his place. He smelled a quite nice aroma coming from the kitchen as his stomach made noises to him. He left his room and walked down the steps, peering behind the wall that blocked the very few steps that remained. Silently, he walked into the living room, crossing his arms until Touko noticed him standing there.

Touko laughed, walking towards N and looking up to him, "Hah! You're hungry aren't you?"

His stomach growled as he tightened the grip on his stomach while lightly glaring at her. Touko couldn't resist but to smile at him, willing to eat dinner with him. The thoughts she had in her mind of what Cheren said started to seep into her mind. She actually did want to become friends with N just to make Cheren stop worrying a bit.

"Well… you can eat dinner with me, okay? ~" she said, dragging him to the small table and setting him down. "Just hold on, the food is almost finished. Cheren made it for me and he said it can make people happen. Just eat it once, okay?"

She had ran into the kitchen as N didn't have enough time to react. He looked down and blushed while she didn't notice. He started to remember Concordia as he was ignoring how hungry he was. Sadly, it was quite one sided between Concordia and N due to N not really seeking anything but help from the poor woman.

As Touko finally finished with dinner, she remembered how generous Cheren was. She knew that she would miss him a lot more than she ever would, especially since he was going back to Sinnoh for the first time in a couple of years. He was never from there, though his father was. Touko was quite curious to know why his father had gone back without saying anything about it.

Even then, her mother came about as she kept thinking about Cheren. She decided that perhaps, she could have gone on a trip to the hospital. Cheren wasn't there which made it a bit harder to go alone. Cheren was her 'boyfriend' as she always seemed to lie to her mother about it. Her mother actually didn't know how Touko's love life was: quite non-existent and not there. Touko wanted to clear that up by talking to her about it and she planned it out then.

"Dinner's ready!" she exclaimed, taking everything to the table. N seemed quite tired by the way he looked down at the table.

They both ate together, N eating quite slower out the two of them. Touko glanced at him quite in an odd manner. She couldn't tell if he was actually enjoying the stew or not. She was happy to have a peaceful dinner with him without any arguments.

After dinner was finished, N decided that he should clean the dishes as he didn't help Touko do anything. He stood up as Touko shot up along with him.

"Let me do it!" She pushed him to the staircase as she ran back to the table, quickly cleaning everything that was in the way of a normal table's habitat.

He walked back and leaned on the kitchen island's table with one elbow, staring at her as she cleaned everything. Touko was quite happy still, trying to take over the villa that Cheren once did. It was the first time she actually did something herself rather than having her very own childhood friend always taking control of everything.

"I was just trying to help, you know…" N muttered as he played with the salt and pepper shakers. "I'll be in my room doing some work…"

"I guess I'll take that as his gratitude." Touko uttered while smiling into the dishes as N ascended up the staircase; his footsteps barely made any noise as he kept going. All he could think of was Concordia. He sincerely wondered if he had any feelings for her or if he previously did. Touko matched her in almost every way possible. Her crazed emotions, helping N out, being such a caring person, careless and clumsy… everything added up to him.

He walked through the door and gently placed himself onto the open chair that sat in front of his work covered desk. He was quite tired, although he had to complete his work. His meeting with Team Plasma was coming up soon as he remembered, checking on the calendar. Nothing really snapped him out of thinking about Touko though, especially as she kindly treated him to dinner. He actually felt a bit out of the ordinary. Happiness? He couldn't even express it, let alone know what it truly was. Finally, he shook his head and continued working like he was meant to be doing.

Touko was almost done washing dishes as she started thinking about a couple of things. She really did want to see her mother but she didn't want to do it alone knowing that Cheren was going to be out of town. Touya always went to visit often, sometimes every day depending on the season. N popped up suddenly as she thought about it. If he went along, it could help him change his perspective on things. Right then, she decided she was going to see her mother tomorrow.

She tried to hurry to clean the dishes which caused her to break the dish. N heard a crashing noise, causing him to run downstairs.

"GAH, NOT AGAIN!" Touko yelled, trying to heal the large cut she created on her tiny wrist.

N's eyes widened as he stood at the kitchen's island.

"What are you doing, clumsy head?" He ran towards her and grabbed her hand.

"I-IT'S JUST A CUT!"

Touko snatched her hand from N and started to blush. She turned and looked at it, noticing it was quite deep and it was gushing out more blood than before. She flinched and started to panic as N approached her once again, lightly pulling her arm to him as she curved.

"You call this a cut? Are you crazy, woman?" He yelled, looking closely at it. "Here, let me see it okay? It won't hurt unless you keep trying to turn away from me."

Touko stopped being stubborn and let him look at it. He sighed then looked around him.

"Please tell me you know where the bandages and stuff are."

She pointed upward.

"Gah! Touko, speak, don't point or you'll get more blood on the floor…"

She looked down and realized that she was getting blood all over the white, glossy floor. She hopped up and clenched her teeth.

"Upstairs, in the bathroom I tell you!" He ran upstairs with no hesitation.

Touko held her hand over the sink as the blood continued to drip. She didn't know how she got a cut, especially since she was trying quite hard to just pick everything up carefully. She stared into the blood covered shards until N ran down with the bandages and such.

"I'm not letting you wash the dishes anymore," he declared, grabbing Touko's arm once again. "Stay still or this _will_ hurt."

He cleaned the cut up with alcohol as she flinched very much. She took her anger out by yelling at him as she felt threatened while being in pain.

"It's my kitchen! Gah! If I don't do it, no one will!"

N glared at her as she glared back at him. He pressed harder on the towel holding the alcohol, causing her to grunt and clench her teeth even more.

"I'll do it if you let me; now hold still!"

"You're hurting me on purpose, take it off now! It's already been too long since you had it on me!"

He removed the towel as they both stared at the cut. It became quite swollen as he placed bandages on it. Finally, Touko snatched her arm away the split second he finished tying the bandage on her arm.

"You're welcome," N silently called out as he turned around, walking back up the staircase. "You should be lucky you're not a Pokémon or you would have hurt yourself even more from that grunting and moving around you were doing."

Touko stared at N's backside from the kitchen. She glared at him and turned off the lights as she tried to run after him.

That mess will have to wait, she thought as she finally caught up to him.

"Uhhh, wait! I have to ask you something!" she called, contemplating on what to do. "Thank you by the way!"

N stopped in front of his room as Touko bumped into his back. He slowly turned around and glared down at her.

"Hm? What is it?" he questioned in a curious manner.

"Can you come with me tomorrow?"

"What for?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow if you agree to come, okay?" Touko smiled and looked at her bandaged arm. She was quite grateful that he did so.

"Deal."

N slammed the door right in Touko's face at the moment he replied. She smiled and started to hop up. Everything was set in place for tomorrow.

Touko walked into her room and turned on the small, laced covered night light sitting in the corner of the room. There was nothing but the sound of the crashing wind coming through the door leading out to the veranda. She decided that perhaps, it was a time where she should look out and take in the final day of autumn.

_Hmmm… it's colder than normal here right now… _she thought, smelling the entire world come through the doors.

She went into her huge closet and picked out a light sweater and put on some sweatpants. All she wanted to do was look in the sky and sleep outside on the veranda. It was actually quite possible, as there was a small bed outside.

.

After contemplating a bit, she thought sleep indoors after looking outside for quite some time, spotting a pale Pokémon floating in the air, creating quite a beautiful sparkle trail that disappeared into the blue sky. She had spent around two hours staring around into just a blank nothingness filled with tiny details.

"I wish N could enjoy this with me," she uttered.

Touko turned to her left, noticing that he was actually standing there looking up into the sky. She blushed very heavily and looked right at him though he was still looking up at the sky.

"I can hear you humming all the way from my room, just saying," he whispered, still staring at the moon. "I needed some time away from my work I guess you could say…"

The wind started getting a bit heavier after he arrived. Touko looked back into the sky and gripped onto the railing extra hard. She didn't want the silence to continue so she decided to poke into N's past a little.

"Have you ever looked into the sky like this before, N?"

N closed his eyes and looked down a bit. She noticed at the corner of her eye, smiling a bit lighter.

"I only got to do so a couple of times when I was a child…" he replied, but then looked back up and put his elbow on the railing. "I did this every night for the past couple of years I was gone, actually. It's been a nice experience."

He finally snapped back to reality, looking back at Touko. He had his mindset on Concordia the entire time, as he never talked to anyone personally about his life or anything.

_What am I doing? I should be working…_ A worried N still continued to look up at the sky.

"Really, eh? Well, I watch the night every day when I get a chance. It makes me feel a little bit less lonely every night I guess."

She smiled bigger and pointed to a shooting star. It was actually a Pokémon and the same one she had seen before: Jirachi.

He looked up and smiled as well, both of them wishing for what they had truly wanted. The shooting star suddenly stopped and shot an extra large shower of sparkles, surprising both N and Touko.

Touko turned around and left her veranda doors open as she walked in, as N was still looking up at the sky. Everything became silent, though, Touko felt quite lonely again. She picked up her pillow and walked out to her veranda. Still, N stood there as clueless as ever.

She cuddled her pillow quite hard as she tugged on N's shirt. He turned around to wonder what was distracting him. He looked down, looking at a quite, cute Touko.

"Cheren would let me sleep with him when he slept over…" she uttered, looked up at N.

"Pfft, what do you want now?" He replied, giving himself a facepalm.

"I don't wanna sleep alone tonight… Can I sleep with you?"

He flinched at such a disgusting request, turning into stone the second he heard it. She still looked up at him, hoping he would say yes. She also thought it was quite cold, so she wanted someone to sleep next to.

"PLEAAAASE!" she started to whine softly as he stared at her sullenly.

"Fine, just don't distract me while I'm doing work." He walked back into his room as she smiled and followed him.

N's room was still looking as untouched as ever; his TV lay untouched and the bed was clean as ever. His floor was tidy and nothing was scattered around, just a bunch of papers laid on his desk as he continued working.

Touko jumped into his bed as N sat back down, doing some work. She started to cuddle her pillow as she took one that she spotted on his bed to place under her head.

N let out a big yawn as Touko started to flinch. He heard her move around in his bed as he continued to do his work. Nothing really broke the the silence until Touko decided to pretend to snore. It annoyed N so much that he had to complain about it.

"If you're going to try to pretend to sleep, at least don't snore. I know you don't snore." She flinched again, though she had a bit of fun annoying him.

"Hmmph, I was just wondering when you were gonna get in… I'm lonely." Touko sniffed a couple of times to add effect.

"If it'll make you sleep, fine."

As desired, N untied his hair and hopped into the other side of the bed, Touko silently smiling and cuddling her pillow tighter and even more. She finally felt a bit tired after messing with N so much. Her eyes closed as she tried to sleep.

N sat on the other side of the bed facing the wall. He really didn't want to deal with her that night as he was quite tired and annoyed of how much of a resemblance Touko had of Concordia. He probably did love Concordia, after all, he knew her since he was little. He didn't want to think about it much so he just waved his hands, causing the bed to shake.

"Zzz…"

N stared over at Touko side as he silently rose up from out of bed.

_I hope she's actually sleeping this time and if not, she's acting too well for me to notice!_

He continued to work as she silently slept, not making much noise. N had to continue and finish by the next two days or the meeting would have been a total disaster. He still had somewhat of an affiliation with Team Plasma all though he didn't really want to be involved. His father always forced N to do things he never really wanted to do, such as stay in that huge room full of toys. It destroyed his entire childhood the more he was forced to stay in it. He somewhat was happy being able to stay with Touko because it meant more peacefulness and more alone time although, it meant he had to stay with some clumsy girl that he didn't want to know. Still, he proceeded to complete some of his work.

After ten minutes, Touko started moving about; her sniffing sounded like she was crying. N looked back as he completed signing a paper. His concern level raised as she kept on going.

He stood up and walked toward her, wondering why she doing so much. It wasn't until then that he started hearing her say words, but quietly. N got closer to her face and tried to hear what she was saying.

"T-Touya…"

He flinched back as she was uttering louder than normal. Her hands started to cuddle the pillow more as her eyes started to water. N felt a bit guilty and laid back in bed. He turned over to her side as he decided he had no other way of sleeping. He stopped working for the remainder of the night just to watch over Touko once again. She moved around once more, over toward N's side. His eyes widened a bit as he stared at her. She still cried, though N was looking straight at her.

With no control of his emotions, his hands slipped up to her face and wiped her tears. He started blushing and feeling a bit nervous after doing so, but he couldn't help himself; it reminded him of Concordia as he continued to watch her.

Touko twirled over to N as he covered his face. He started becoming extremely nervous.

"Touya… Stop…"

She finally woke up and sat up a bit. Touko's eyes instantly looked towards N's desk. As she noticed he wasn't there, she rubbed her eyes and looked over to her side. They both made eye contact, not doing anything.

"I'm sorry N… I didn't know I was bothering you," she uttered softly, as she laid back down and faced N.

He looked dreamily content at her, not realizing what he was doing still.

"You look quite troubled and lonely; do you need me to hold you while you sleep?" he silently asked.

She blinked a few times, looking as if she was going to cry. He stared at her in a quite soft yet serious manner. Touko nodded softly as she started to weep a bit. He moved in closer to her and held her tightly. She held him back as her weeping started to quiet down a bit.


	4. Chapter 4

I kind of made Touko look like a bitch after the second chapter but whatever. She'll eventually evolve after staying with N after a while, as so will he change after time passes by.

Also, if there's anything you want to see just leave a pm or a review and I'll try to incorporate the idea in.

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As daylight hit the villa, Touko woke up. She felt as if she was in a different position before. She only saw darkness until moving around, realizing that N was holding her all night. Her face was in N's chest the whole time, Touko blushing heavily as she remembered. She slowly removed his arm from her body and sat up, looking outside of his villa. The leaves from the trees slowly turned into a golden orange. The birds flew around the veranda as she continued looking through the glass.

Touko smiled and arose from the bed, yawning heavily. The intensity of the sunrise started to renew her as N awoke from his silent sleep. He looked up, staring at a quite energetic N.

It was merely 7 A.M. as they both woke up. Touko's back was turned at N the entire time, not really noticing what he was doing. She ran towards the glass doors, opening them and looked off of his side of the veranda. She took notice of all that nature was doing, smelling the wind and smiling very much. N walked behind her and pulled her healing arm gently, trying not to hurt her.

"Do you remember what happened yesterday?"

She turned and looked at him, trying to recall what happened last night. Right then, the thought struck her.

"Oh! Ummm, yes…" Touko stared down at her feet blushing very much.

His innocence then took over, N freely speaking his mind, "It's nice holding someone as they fall asleep. Did you know that?"

_Why am I saying all of this? This isn't normal_, he thought, flinching at his own remark.

N covered his mouth as he blushed, Touko blinking at him and smiling at him contently. She truly wanted this friendship to begin. The sunrise allowed them to bond together in a way that she couldn't imagine.

"Thank you, N… I never knew you could be so nice and caring." Touko turned around, hiding her blushing face. She felt happy and didn't know what more to do.

N glared at her, "So, you like me being mean?"

Touko gawked as she looked at him, N turning around and walking slowly to his room.

"N-NO! I was just saying that I didn't know you were, not that you never were!" She chased after him and bumped into his back as he stopped walking.

N turned around and stared down at her giving a small glare. He looked at her evilly then turned around, walking to the bathroom.

_Gah, this won't be so bad after all… _she thought, sitting in his bed.

She finally remembered what she was going to do today as he walked out of the bathroom.

"N, remember when I told you I needed you to come along with me somewhere?"

N remembered their encounter last night as his eyes widened in curiosity.

"Castelia City, I'm going to visit my mother at the hospital," she replied, her eyes getting glossier by the second.

Touko hadn't visited her in a couple of days; Touya was there all the time and she didn't want to see him there. Sometimes, he'd stay the night as he watched his mother's condition become worse by the second. Their mother was quite sick as she had stayed there for years now, not getting any better.

N started to remind himself of his childhood as he kept thinking. He wondered why she was in the hospital but didn't want her to trouble her with it. He always thought that keeping things to himself was mandatory as no one really needed to know anything about him in return.

The phone started to ring, breaking the silence between the two of them. Touko stood up swiftly as she answered the phone.

"Good morning, Touko speaking, how may I help you?"

"_I'm leaving in two hours. It's Cheren._" She started to mess with her hair as she heard his voice.

"C-Cheren?" she uttered, catching N's attention as he was changing his shirt.

"_Hm? Something the matter?"_

"Nothing… call me when you get there okay?"

"_Sure thing. Also, mom is worried about you; go visit her today if you can_."

The phone clicked as she started to widen her eyes. It was such a coincidence as she was already planning to go visit. Her mother always called Cheren before calling Touko, as sometimes, Touko would be too scared to answer the phone. Nothing terrified her as much as Touya did. The very thought of him haunted her every night. She shook her head frantically and turned to N.

"Ready?" he called out, glaring at Touko.

She looked down at herself and gave a facepalm; she was still in her sleeping clothes and still had to brush her teeth. She ran directly into her room as N followed her but walked down the stairs after she had ran into her room. He put on his shoes and decided to walk outside, waiting for her to come along.

As some time passed by, Touko ran out and looked quite rushed as her hair was messed up a bit and her leather jacket wasn't fully zipped. She turned around and locked the door as N stared at her, quite annoyed.

"Wait, wait! I'm almost done!" She tried to put her other boot on as she hopped up and down.

"Seriously, Touko? You should take time in what you're doing…"

Seconds later, the somewhat grey sky released tiny showers of rain. Touko gawked as N turned around back into the villa.

"Hey look, the rain is here; let's **not **go," N unlocked the door and walked back into the house as Touko followed suit.

She hurried over to the phone to call her mother as the rain continued to get a bit heavier. N proceeded to go to his room without being bothered. It was quite unexpected; forty minutes directly after sunrise and a thunderstorm occurs? He thought it was quite silly.

N started to think about Team Plasma more than anything when he arrived in his room. He put on his reading glasses and continued to work. Nothing made him stress this much except doing more work for his father. Still, he kept signing and reading papers like it wasn't anything to worry about. He started thinking about Concordia as he proceeded.

_Why would I let a woman get to me like this? _

Suddenly Touko, dressed back in her home attire, opened his door as he ignored her doing so. She brought a bowl of ice cream and sat atop N's bed, looking somewhat content. She left the door opened as a very faint draft.

"Touko," N called, staring directly at the door.

"Yeeeeeah?" she replied, looked up with a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.

"So, you're going to let someone in and not shut my door?" N smirked then stood up, facing the door. It was open, as he seemed like he was talking to himself. Touko rose up and stared into the empty air which didn't look like anyone was even there. Silently, he moved his chair as he stood up, gradually causing tension between the two of them.

"What are you talking about?" She looked closely as he shot up a roundhouse kick, revealing a figure's appearance quite familiar to Touko. She flinched and hopped back into N's bed. Her eyes widened as violence decided to take over the atmosphere. The unknown person stood up from the lash as N refrained from doing any more harm. He wore all black which alerted both of them that his intentions were probably affiliated with Team Plasma.

"Impressive, N," the voice called out. "How did you know I was standing behind her the entire time?"

"I can see things others can't, Touya." Touko flinched at his very name, suddenly becoming unable to contain herself. She started to cry as N and Touya continued their small yet large dispute.

"It's quite odd that you would live with Touko. You don't love her, do you?" Touya laughed evilly and glared at N as he took off his glasses. "I have someone beloved to you as well; don't you worry."

N smirked and started to glare next to Touya. There was someone else with him, though he didn't want to lash out and attack it. Instead, he walked forward and kept looking until the person appeared. He gasped at the mere sight of this figure which revealed to be Concordia. Touko kept looking down at the pillow as they entered the hallway. It was quite grand yet big enough to start a fight. She walked out as they all began to argue. The thunder started to contribute to the madness that was going to occur.

"Touya…" Touko uttered to herself as she continued to cuddle her pillow even tighter as she tried not to get involved. Her anger tried to seep out the more she stared at Touya and Concordia; the thought of them entering her house while she wasn't looking was too angering to not think about.

"Concordia, what are you doing here?" N glared at her more than ever. Nothing made him feel more angry than the sight of some man with the woman he had 'loved', though he was quite unsure about himself. The mere thought of him and her ruined him as he continued to contemplate. Touko noticed N starting to get emotionally weaker as time started to elapse.

"I'm just here to complete my task," she replied, though she seemed quite unpleased in saying so. "Leading Master Touya here to Lord N was all I was told to do."

Touya snickered as he removed a Pokéball from his pocket. Touko clenched her teeth as she did the same, causing N to push her back.

"Touko, I can handle this; stay back." N pulled a Pokéball from his pocket as everyone looked around. "If a battle is what you want, a battle is what you shall get. Go, Zoroark!"

"So be it. Go, Bisharp!"

Both Pokémon lay in front of all four of them. The lightning started to become more shocking as the hallway windows continued to flash. Thunder immediately hit as the lights suddenly turned off, causing the darkness to engulf the entire villa. Everything was visible to an extent, causing all of them to become more cautious as the environment darkened.

"So, Touya… don't you want to tell me why you're here now?" N demanded to know as the atmosphere became awfully quiet.

"No, I actually don't!" Touya laughed as he stared at Touko. "So sister, do you want to watch me humiliate your boyfriend?"

Concordia flinched, "Master, watch your choice of words…"

She didn't want to even think about the possibility of them actually being together, especially since N didn't even come back after the first day; she was quite disappointed that Ghetsis even wanted him here.

_Hmm, as if Lord N would pick someone over me_, she faintly thought.

"I know what I'm doing, darling." Touya signaled her to back away as she stepped back a bit.

"Hurry up, my ice cream is melting!" Touko started to tense up as Touya gave himself a facepalm.

Touko threw her Pokéball in the air, unleashing Lucario. Lucario stood in front of her as he got into a fighting stance. Touko looked at Touya as N smirked, realizing what had happened without even having to look back.

"Shadow Ball, now!" Touya put his arm forward as he opened his fist into the air, directing Bisharp to Zoroark.

Bisharp disappeared suddenly into the air as Zoroark closed its eyes and focused. Everything suddenly became black until Bisharp appeared into the air, shooting a shadow like substance right into Zoroark. Still, N's Pokémon refused to move as it sat there and looked like it was meditating. Touko closed her eyes as Lucario made an aura sphere. An explosion occurred, causing a sudden blast of darkness to emerge from the area of attack. Zoroark was not harmed and did not move; Bisharp actually flew back from the damage he brought as it had been reflected. Touya took one step back as Concordia moved against the hallway's wall.

"Pathetic, Touya. Let us see who actually gets humiliated after this battle. Zoroark, Imprison!"

N's arms pointed directly at Touya as he started to become quite power crazed. The darkness eventually possessed him as it continued to lurk in the villa. The thunderstorm became more intense as the waves that were once in the sea started a high tide. The waves crashed at the foot of the rocky slope that held up the villa.

A large force field covered the entire hallway but it seemed to only have affected Bisharp. He disabled his movements as the force field stayed up. Touya gasped and started to lose his sanity. He didn't want to lose such an easy battle against someone who was 'under' him; at least he thought N was 'under' him.

N continued to look at Touya's reactions as the battle started to get a bit out of control.

"Incinerate." N silently commanded Zoroark to finish the last of him. An immense aura of fire appeared around Zoroark as he controlled it through one finger, the other finger still holding up the force field. N mirrored exactly what Zoroark was doing as he completely finished Bisharp off.

Touko sat behind N and emotionlessly stared at the entire battle with Lucario to protect her. She was quite impressed as she hadn't realized that N kept his Pokémon after all of those years. In actuality, Concordia was holding Zoroark as he went off with Zekrom. He left all his Pokémon behind as he sought to do other things.

"Hm, what a sad defeat." Touya recalled his fainted Pokémon as he looked at Concordia. "I'm leaving; come along as you wish, Concordia."

Touya disappeared in the air as Concordia stayed sitting up against the wall. She looked at N as she ran towards him.

"Lord N, I've missed you so!" Her arms wrapped around him; he didn't react as usual, of course.

Touko sat down and ignored the two of them. She suddenly envied Concordia as she had someone who loved her as Touko felt the opposite of that. Concordia looked directly behind N and smirked at Touko, though she was too busy thinking about other things to be worrying about some crazed woman.

_Hmmph, I don't know why she dares do such a thing in front of me_, she thought as she recalled her Lucario.

"Concordia, you should leave now." N pushed her off as she plopped on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably; he recalled Zoroark while doing so. "I have things to attend to."

Touko stuck her tongue out at her as N looked down at Concordia. Honestly, Touko did have some sort of attraction to him but she didn't want to admit it. She felt secure near him though she would have done better with Cheren around. N was good enough though, especially since he lived with her.

"But Lord, I want you back… I need you." She stood up slowly as N still stared down at Concordia, who suddenly grabbed him once more.

The illumination in the villa finally appeared back to normal as the storm outside finally calmed down. Still, she stared at Concordia's desperate attempt to try and take N home with her. She got annoyed though as she stood up and walked toward her room, shutting the door right behind her. She couldn't take the pleading of Concordia's annoying voice.

"Concordia, leave." He removed her hands off of him as he turned around. She gripped his shirt as he tried to follow Touko.

"You don't love her, do you?"

N started to contemplate the second she asked him the question. He didn't exactly know his true relationship with Touko as they only had lived together for almost three days now. What if he was only content with Touko as it was the only way to escape the loneliness that covered him? Still, he avoided the question.

"That doesn't matter…" he replied, grabbing her hand out of pity.

"It does! You do love her, don't you?" Concordia snatched her hand away from him as she turned around, fading away in the air after two seconds of silence.

N looked down as he knocked on Touko's door and entered. He was quite curious to know how she felt about what had happened. Something sparked in his mind that she wasn't exactly enjoying the company of either of them in her villa, as it seemed to anger her very much.

He sat on the bed next to Touko who laid quietly as she had her head in her arms. She didn't exactly feel fine but she was fine enough. She started feeling somewhat jealous and envious of N. She missed Cheren quite a lot, even though he probably didn't leave off to go to Sinnoh just yet. As Cheren kept coming into her mind, Touko started to sniff up a bit as she held up too much emotion. Touko couldn't help but to rub her eyes. N looked down at the floor as he was quite ashamed. He knew exactly why she was down, though he didn't want to admit it. He didn't want to hold back emotions anymore either.

"I'm going to get some work done now…" N got up until he felt her grip on his shirt.

"Don't leave me, please…" She started to cry as he sat back down. "I don't want to be alone anymore."

His eyes started to widen as he remembered his childhood. He recalled the very same line he said to Concordia as he had been trapped in that very room. N turned around and laid next to Touko, untying his hair. Touko started to crunch up into a ball as N started getting closer.

"Talk to me, Touko," he demanded. "Why do you want me to be near you so much?"

"Because I hate being alone all the time…" she started to cuddle onto the sheets as his back faced her.

"I'm an enemy of yours, don't you understand?"

"You're my friend, N. I don't want you to leave me as long as I'm in this house."

His stomach started to flutter as he thought more about it. I mean, it was already quite understandable that they could be friends already without even knowing it, though they both denied it. It's what angered the both of them at the raging thought that it could be quite one sided rather than nonexistent.

Touko started to become quite anxious after an unexpected silence popped up. She hoped that she didn't ruin their growing friendship as everything started to pass slowly yet quickly.

"I'm your friend?" he asked from the blue. Touko looked dreamily into his back and knew exactly how he felt.

"Of course you are," she regained most of herself as she tried to cheer up. "I wanted to thank you for earlier… I mean last night."

N turned to her as he noticed she was being quite serious. He couldn't help but stay completely clueless, pretending like he didn't hear anything. It was quite obvious that he was listening to everything. They were the only two people in the house and it would have been pretty stupid to try and find a reason to lie about not listening.

"Anytime I guess…"

Touko sat up and stared at the young man as she decided to do her own work. It was already the beginning of winter and she thought she would go publish another one of those books about Juniper's recent findings.

"I'll be off now, N; t-thank you for staying with me until I got better."

She ran off into her office and didn't say another word.

_If I stayed there any longer, I probably would have lost my cool_, she thought, slowly opening the door to the office.

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"Finally; almost done! And right before sunset~"

Touko was going to finish up the very little work she had left until she thought about making a call Cheren to make sure he was alright; she didn't want to bother him. Surprisingly, her cell phone rang seconds after thinking about Cheren. Her first response was obviously to pick up the phone. It was of course Cheren; she gulped as she hit the button.

"H-hello? Touko speaking…" her pen tapped on the rim of the black, wooden desk.

"_I'm going to kill that bastard."_

Touko flinched without time to react properly. Was this really Cheren or did something possess him? No, he was probably mad. He always seemed to turn into a devil every time things didn't either work out well, properly, or sometimes when something bad has happened. It caught on finally when they turned fifteen.

"Cheren? What's the matter?" Touko slouched in her chair as she was surrounded by curiosity.

"_Would you like me to tell you of what I've seen since I've come to Sinnoh?"_

"…?"

"_My_ _father. He was murdered. They sent his body to Sinnoh as he was from here of course._"

Touko stared directly into the phone as she was quite surprised. She dropped the pen and used her arm for support as she started to lean upon the desk.

"Any clues on who did it?"

She heard a quite loud sigh coming from the other side of the phone. Knowing Cheren, he probably didn't cry; he was too emotionless to do so.

"_Team Plasma. Apparently, they set some secret plans in Numeva while I wasn't paying attention… I was too late to save my father, though I wondered why he had left that night._"

Touko's eyes widened as her fist smashed the desk causing an echoing noise in her office. It startled her as she tried to think of something to say.

"By that 'bastard' you mean N, don't you?" Cheren went silent as Touko heard waves coming through his side of the phone. "GAH, don't tell me you're coming back already!"

"_Shush._"

The phone clicked as she looked down, sighing out of discomfort. She slowly fell asleep while she tried to think to herself. Somehow, she started becoming lightheaded while doing so.

N still sat on her bed, eventually falling back and reflecting on the days he had been there. He already felt like he had somewhat of an attraction to her, though he didn't want to admit it. They both secretly had attraction for each other but neither wanted to reveal it first. N was still being as mean as ever as Touko continued to act… like a normal Touko would act. He was quite pleased at everything that was happening, but he could control himself seeing it was Touko. He already had enough of it from Concordia back when he was still living in the castle. Still, he was quite curious to know the reasoning behind his father's forced request to live with Touko, some girl ten year old girl he met when he was sixteen. She didn't seem too important until his father saw some kind of power in her; something that was different from all the other trainers. N swore she was smarter back then, as she seemed kind of a different person today. He shook his head rapidly, succeeding in no headache as he walked to Touko's office to check up on her.

As N glared through the glass window, he noticed that Touko was actually sleeping on top of her work. He couldn't find out why she was so uncomfortable to sleep around him in her room, though she could do so just fine last night. Still, he lifted the young woman up as she was sound asleep. He looked at her the entire time as he walked to his room.

_Why is she so beautiful and so content as she sleeps? _

He opened the door as he laid her on his bed. He gave quite a heavy sigh and decided that he should do some work. Well, some work after a nice, relaxing bath. Touko laid sleeping as he walked into the bathroom, removing everything of value to him as he placed it on the desk.

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"N…"

Touko finally woke up as her hands started to feel on her surroundings. She didn't even realize where she was until she felt N's wet hair laying about on the bed. The sudden rush of air caused him to wake right before she noticed.

Her heart stopped as she quickly rose up. She looked to her right and noticed that he was sleeping there contently and probably had gotten out of the shower or something. She glared at the clock very much; it turned out they both had slept until very late evening. N looked up as his eyes widened, quite surprised to see Touko up.

"Touko? Are you finally up?"

She slapped him in the face without hesitation as he took the slap. He slowly rubbed the area of effect and looked at her.

"Team Plasma still didn't stop when you started living here."

"It is not my doing; I was here the entire time."

"Then what are all those papers on your desk?"

He flinched as he suddenly got out of bed. He knew of the plan but he dared not admit he knew anything about it. He didn't know that his father still set out to take over Unova.

"I-It is nothing! Just papers that needed work to be done on," he softly replied.

The phone rang as it startled the two of them. She glared at him as she stood up to answer the phone.

"Hmm, good evening, Touko speaking, how may I help you?" She sounded quite annoyed as she waited for the person to respond.

"Hello there, young child; I request to speak to my son if that's not a problem." It was Ghetsis as he sounded quite exhausted. Who knows what he could have been up to; stealing Pokémon? He'd make other people do it, not himself to say the least.

Touko threw the phone at N as she walked off into her office to finish that last bit of work she had been meaning to complete. She certainly didn't feel quite right today, especially what had happened earlier in the morning. N glared at her walking off as he lifted up the phone.

"Hello?"

"What is the problem, boy? Have you gotten attached to that girl all of a sudden?" N moved the phone away as his father continued to yell at him. He assumed that it was about Touko.

"Father, what have you called me for?"

"The plan won't be going too well if you allow yourself to fall in love with that weak, pathetic woman."

"I understand; I shall see you at the meeting, father."

The phone clicked as he looked down at the desk before him. Suddenly, the door that lead outside made a loud noise. It startled N very much, though Touko possibly couldn't hear due to her being too caught up into her work; the windows around her office were also soundproof which made it hard to hear anything coming in.

N walked downstairs quite slowly as he saw a man in the shadow, standing right before the staircase. He flipped on the light switch that laid on the wall next to the last stair. He saw Cheren and flinched a bit.

"I suppose Touko is doing work in the office as she would usually react to that loud noise." Cheren pushed his glasses as he pointed at N. "Your father killed my father, did you know that?"

N scratched the back of his head and looked down at Cheren, "Of course I wouldn't have known; I have been with Touko these past couple of days."

Touko finally finished her work as she rushed downstairs to grab some ice cream. To her surprise, she looked down the steps, noticing the light turned on. It caused her to peer down the stairwell. As she kept looking, she noticed Cheren and N talking. She sat there and didn't make a noise as her back pressed firmly against the wall.

"I still think you have a connection with Team Plasma in the manner that you still try to seek out for a world for just Pokémon. Isn't that right, N?"

N stared down at his feet trying to figure out what to say. He didn't seek out the same as before but he was threatened to continue living the life he did as he was younger. He still lived isolated in a room full of nothing as he continued to follow his father's orders.

Cheren began to smirk as he pointed to N once again. "Knowing you, you certainly don't care about Touko either. I can tell by your eyes."

N became more angry as he continued to listen to the taunting yet silent voice of Cheren's. Touko looked down at her feet as she continued to listen.

"My relationship with Touko is none you should be concerned with."

"Really?" Cheren took one step back as he turned to his right. "So you're telling this to the guy that has been in love with her all of these years?"

Touko flinched as she started to sniff quietly. She didn't realize how Cheren felt about her as she only saw it in a friend way. She hid her face in her lap as she continued to listen in.

"You are _quite_ annoying, Cheren." N yawned, examining his nails in a quite bored manner. "I think I know who I'm talking to."

"Well, N, you're quite annoying yourself. You know the true reasoning behind why you're here yet you don't want to admit it. I just think you're using her as a way to distract us from Team Plasma."

N glared to the right then pouted, "Hmm. That is also none of your concern."

Touko lifted up her head from her lap as she started to think more about the night N held her. Did he do it only to get closer to manipulate her? She was quite curious to know how he felt about her though he was never fond of opening up to people.

"Am I? Do you not even have sympathy for this poor woman?" Cheren's voice became more harsh as he continued to stare at N who was a pathetic excuse himself for standing in front of Cheren.

"Sympathy…" He combed his hair back as he started to think.

N had not yet learned much of that emotion yet or that feeling perhaps. He always read in books and such but he had yet to experience it, as for the other types of emotion he had never felt. His experience always came from books and never in person as he was always isolated. He finally applied his reading to real life.

Cheren briefly looked down as he realized what he had done. He had hit a soft spot in N's heart as he suddenly let his anger take control of him. N didn't have a normal childhood was all he recalled. Isolation and loneliness were probably the first things he knew before anything, along with sadness. Still, Cheren looked back up at N but replied more calmly.

"Touko was a former alcoholic if you hadn't known by what I have told you yesterday. Her mother and step brother continued to become quite worried about her health as she got older. Touya never forgave her even when she stopped as it drove her mother into the hospital."

Touko looked up with her eyes widened. She still couldn't believe that Cheren remembered every exact detail of the story from years ago.

"I continued to take care of her until she listened to me. She then grew up lonely in this villa as she didn't want to cause unintended harm to anyone… I visited her everyday and took care of her until I became a gym leader in Nacrene which wasn't until recent times…"

N's eyes widened as he was impressed by how Cheren kept all the little details memorized. He was quite jealous of their friendship, considering he hadn't had one before. The one that he had with Touko didn't really count as they had only known each other for that little amount of time, excluding the couple of years that they had been 'rivals'.

"I couldn't get her love to return back no matter what so I gave up but continued to do everything for her. It made me happy to know that she was satisfied with all that I did for her, even if she didn't want me to always do things for her." Cheren turned around but continued. "I love Touko with all of my heart but I'm too scared to show it."

Sounds of crying came from the top of the staircase. N and Cheren's eyes scanned upward as they both ran up. Touko sat there crying in her lap forgetting that she had to be quiet. She at once loved Cheren in that way but she didn't think he would feel the same for her, which respectively contributed for her reason of her being alone. Touko grabbed Cheren's leg as soon as he approached up the stairs. N looked down in sadness and walked to his room.

Cheren crouched in front of Touko as she slowly stopped crying. He wiped her tears as she continuously tried to push him away. Her anger filled her as her future didn't have to turn out so lonely. It was only until she got older that she realized her best friend could have been all she needed.

"Stop pushing me away, Touko…" he muttered as he tried to get closer to her.

"No! Stay away from me; I want to be alone," she demanded.

"As you wish," Cheren kissed the young female on the forehead as he walked off and shut the door behind him.

At that moment, she stopped crying. He was willing to show her but it had already been too late; she no longer felt the same for him. Touko shut off the lights and walked back to her room; she was struggling but she eventually made it.

Minutes passed as N was quietly sitting in his room, overhearing everything that was going on through the opposite side of the wall. He someone felt guilty as he found out Team Plasma was behind the murder of Cheren's father. It wasn't right how it happened so fast and quietly as N didn't know anything about it. He walked out to the veranda as he looked up into the sky. The very same thing he saw with Touko yesterday flew about with its rain of sparkles. It reminded him of when they had slept with each other last night. It was quite a coincidence as everything turned bad simply from just one event in three days. N rubbed his eyebrow as he walked back inside.

The last thing he did was shut the door behind him. After doing so, he immediately got into his bed and fell asleep.

.

During the middle of the night, N had awoken from a nightmare. He sat up and looked around noticing a small figure next to him. Touko was hunched up right next to him as she cuddled a pillow. She shivered as she wasn't covered by anything and started to mumble to herself faintly. N curiously stared at her as he held her to sleep. Looking at her with guilt, he placed the cover over the poor girl as he moved in closer to her.


	5. Chapter 5

Gah, I became quite sick so I didn't bother to type more, but here it is: chapter five.

P.S.: As I get more info on B/W 2, I shall be incorporating some of that into the story.

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A silent sigh broke the wandering silence as N had awoken from his deep slumber. He was bothered quite frequently as he slept but managed to fall back asleep every time.

_I guess Concordia was right about those tactics_, he thought, standing up from his white sanctuary. He looked behind him trying to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He found a quite worn-out Touko lying on the bed under his covers. N tied up his hair as he walked into the bathroom for a couple of minutes then downstairs into the kitchen. It was probably time to eat because he hadn't eaten all day yesterday, completely forgetting that eating was a necessity to living. He also remembered about the cracked plate in the sink. This is the first place he rushed to as he tried to slowly pick up the pieces. Somewhere inside, he was searching for the reason why Touko had cut herself, as none of it could have been possible unless it was intentional or she just wasn't being too considerate doing so.

After picking up the very last of the shards, he looked inside the fridge into the box of food he had left sitting there for a few days. To his surprise, there were only three spring rolls remaining; he brought five back to share with Touko just in case Cheren didn't come along. He smiled as perhaps Touko ate them while he wasn't paying attention. There was still something about her that he couldn't get. Maybe it was her cuteness? He'd seen cuter in Pokémon. Is it because she was so different from everyone he had met? Everyone was unique in their own way. Or was it her lack of intelligence? It couldn't have been as it was too insulting for him to even think of her in such a manner. His stomach started to flutter as the memories of yesterday started to slowly fade away. Nothing _could _remove his thoughts on such a normal girl. Still, he smiled as he continued thinking about her.

N decided that if he was going to eat, coffee was going to be made. He set up the coffee machine as he started to eat. Thinking about Touko made him feel a bit better as he sat alone. The smell of the coffee made him highly content as he was cheerful as ever. His encounter with Jirachi for the few days turned out quite wonderful as the days went on. For some reason, it had felt as that shooting star caused him to become happy, though he couldn't believe it. He combed his hair back confidently and walked up to get some coffee.

Touko softly opened her eyes as her arms spread out to where N once lay. She blinked slowly as the sun shot from the glass door's reflection onto the ground next to her. Her arms stretched as she yawned, cured from her light sleep. For some odd reason, she felt highly refreshed as she couldn't tell what was happening to her. It felt as if everything last night could have been forgotten and moved along as the seconds progressed. She stood up from the bed as she smelt an amazing aroma of coffee with a slight hint of vanilla. She assumed that N was downstairs making coffee as she followed the scent out of the room and down the spiraling staircase. It almost seemed like she was gracefully skipping down the staircase as she descended, eventually looking at the backside of N leaning on the kitchen island. Her cheeks turned into rose as he approached him; N still had yet to realize he was there.

"If only Touko was here enjoying this with me," he uttered, smiling until he looked down at something tugging at the back of his shirt.

Suddenly, the male flinched as he turned quite crimson, glaring down at Touko as she smiled up at him. He covered his mouth as he turned away slightly, making her smile a bit more.

"Isn't it a coincidence how I'm right here?"

N was startled as he started to gulp his coffee down and tried to find an excuse to leave. His feelings were showing more as she could tell; both of them ignored the previous night as it didn't happen though N somewhat tried to bring it up. But strangely enough, they didn't even seem like they hated each other much anymore. Touko's stomach started to feel funny as the emotions didn't hit her this hard since she was with Cheren, though that was at a much, _much_ younger age. She couldn't remember what it felt like to slowly become friends with someone though she knew it was a really nice feeling.

"Don't do that!" he said as he tried to cover his mouth.

She smiled as she turned around walking toward the coffee container. "Thank you for letting me sleep with you…"

N's eyes started to widen as his stomach started to flutter even more. Nothing could explain the feeling he felt as her voice continued to go on.

_Well, you kinda walked into my room last night so I had no idea what to do except be kind, duh_, he thought.

"It wasn't anything troubling really." He finished the last of his coffee as he placed the cup in the sink and scurried upstairs. "I have some work to finish up today so…"

Touko looked up at him as he ran off. She didn't really mind if he was going to busy all day just as long as she was happy. She was going to catch up on the reading that she didn't do for the past couple of days, especially when N came about. After contemplating a bit though, she decided that she should just get some coffee and read while sitting on the veranda. It was of course going to be quite cold so she went upstairs to go change moments before walking off of the veranda with her coffee and the novel of her choice.

N immediately ran up to his room after the encounter with Touko. He knew what he wanted to do and that was going into the library and start looking around for things of interest. Still, he needed to do some work so he sat there on his desk writing as fast as possible to relieve his stress in the library. Upon completion, N gave a heavily pleasant sigh and proceeded to look through the glistening, glass window that led to the veranda. He peered and saw Touko lying down with a book, her sweater comfortably placed all over. She seemed quite content but it looked so chilly outside. He didn't want to bother her of course as he had some bizarre feelings that he didn't even understand. Seconds afterwards, he realized that she was sleeping as the book slowly fell out of her hands. He chuckled then ran back in.

When the moment was right, he took a peek in the hallway just in case there was something unseen. He definitely couldn't let his guard down since yesterday; Touya somehow appeared along with Concordia and it really messed up their plans for yesterday. Nothing could ruin his day today though; he had a meeting to attend. This meeting would probably make him quite angry just being there with his father. At that moment, he believed that Ghetsis was right after all; he had some feelings for Touko and he just didn't wish to have anything to do with her anymore. He skimmed around the books in the library as he was trying to find a place to go. After stumbling through a couple of books, a picture fell out of one of the covers.

"Dear god, who is this man and why does she have pictures of him lying in her books?" he muttered, placing the picture back in its place after examining it for quite some time.

Even then, he still wondered why she kept a picture of this man in her book. It was rather shocking to say the least. He put the book back and continuously looked around until he heard the sound of the doorbell from the front door. He quickly scurried off down the central staircase and looked out of peephole. There was actually nothing there. Perhaps he was just hearing things. He ran back upstairs but instead, he proceeded into his room as he directly went to his desk. The first thing he did was open up a journal that laid on his desk, open with a bunch of faded words. N looked into it as he started jotting down words for a while. For some odd reason, he got too caught up to the point where he eventually fell asleep.

.

N started to twitch a bit as he looked up at the clock. His eyes widened as the room was covered with dimness and he only remembered writing before he knocked out.

"It's already six? I should leave…" He stood up slowly and peered out the window.

Touko was still laying there but he couldn't dare wake her up after looking; it was time for him to go to the meeting he had been waiting for. He dug through his clothing for something important it seemed but he ended up with no success. All the clothing had been thrown onto the ground as he left his journal open on the table, hoping that Touko would look at. It was his journal after all; she would have to be highly curious to look through his stuff.

N picked up his Pokéball and clipped the cube onto his pant loop as he picked up a small backpack. He slipped some papers into his bag as he tried to hurry up. He thought that he had already woke Touko up due to his groaning that he did while he scanned his closet. After looking at the clock for about two minutes, he walked onto the veranda with a small blanket and stared down at Touko.

"I still can't believe I'm doing this," he whispered, slowly placing the blanket on her. "Read the journal if you feel lonely."

He continued to look at her as she was smiling away in her sleeping state. N's hands traveled directly to her forehead after the wind caressed his hand for all that time. He turned around and walked off without a trace but only with hope that she would have the strength to snoop through the stuff on his desk.

After time had passed on, Touko woke up to something quite unpleasant. The wind was blowing quite hard as she had developed somewhat of a cold from sleeping outside for so long. It was getting dark, especially since the day was shorter this season.

_That bastard! Why didn't he get me? Well at least he had the decency to put covers on me! _

Touko ran into her room and took retreat into her covers. She was _still _tired even after sleeping for an entire day. Nothing really came into her mind as she tried to fall asleep until she realized that her book was still outside. Disturbed, she walked back outside and grabbed the book while she looked into N's room. It was still some light shining from the moon for her to look into it. She didn't see him as she continued to stare through the glass. The door was lightly cracked open so she decided to look inside. As she walked in, she slid on a bunch of clothing that laid on the floor by his bed.

"Man! This guy is super messy!" she muttered quietly, lightly kicking the clothing toward his desk.

She climbed onto the oversized bed and started to feel around. There was no one on the bed as she continued to slap on the comforter and the pillows. After sighing very heavily, she walked toward the desk and tripped on the clothing once more. She felt stupid and realized that she kicked it in the most obvious place to check next. There was no one to be found sitting at the desk to begin with so she didn't try to look. Her first choice to go searching for him was in the bathroom. The lights were off unless he normally used the bathroom like that. It still caught her attention as she looked in and turned on the lights.

_If he's scaring me then he's doing a really good job_, she thought, pouting and looking behind the door. N wasn't in the bathroom.

Touko ran into every room in the hallway as she tried to look for him. It wasn't like him to just wander off without saying anything because normally, he'd be in his room. She didn't want to have to look outside, especially since it was cold and dark. Perhaps she could have brought her Lucario along? No, she still didn't want to be scared at this time of night. He wasn't anywhere in the rooms upstairs. He couldn't have been down in the kitchen or the living room unless he was doing something in the dark. That was quite sick of her to think but she flipped the switch on as she ran down the stairs and tried to look for him. Where could he have gone? She didn't know of course.

After failed attempts to find him, she sighed and scratched her head out of confusion. Touko was quite tired anyway so she didn't care any longer. She walked into her room, turned on a lamp and continued to read her unfinished book.

.

"Lord N, there you are; we were looking all over for you." A grunt looked at N as he approached something that appeared to be a castle.

"Do you know how long it is to come all the way from Undella to here? Of course I wouldn't have been here fast but here I am now."

N walked in as he peered around his vicinity; he hadn't been here before so it surprised him. He was in a very large foyer as a group of grunts led him into a large room with a table present. All that lit this large room was a fireplace that was on the side wall. There was a throne sitting there for him as the meeting was getting set up. No one was there yet as a slender, small woman with long, pink hair approached the young man and took his bag from him.

"Good evening, Anthea," he muttered in a deadpan way.

"It is quite nice to see you here, Lord N. Concordia has been worried sick; she did not think you would come." Anthea removed the papers out of his bag, put them on the table next to N and walked off as he proceeded to sit on his throne.

He wasn't too happy for being there but he just had to deal with it. The grunts ran around with papers as they were placed on the table. The light started to shine from above on his throne as he was staring about. He seemed almost like a god as he sat there looking uninterested. Six men shrouded with cloaks stood before N as they all bowed. N's hand looked as if it was dismissing them, but they were ordered to sit down. A couple of high ranking grunts stood at the table along with his two loyal 'servants'. They all bowed down to N as he proceeded to do the same thing but this time, he looked quite annoyed with going through the same processes as before he left Unova. It was just annoying to have to deal with his father and his craving to be ruler of the world.

Ghetsis walked in the grand room as N looked into the opposite direction. The Shadow Triad stood directly next to N as Ghetsis proceeded to walk closer. N sighed as he finally decided to look at his father.

"So I see he has arrived…" Ghetsis stroked his chin as he sat directly in the chair placed beside the throne. "Let us get down to business, shall we?"

N cleared his throat as he placed his elbow on the side of the throne. Nothing angered him as much as letting his father get near him. Still, N could not understand why Ghetsis wanted him around even after he shamelessly insulted his son on the spot. It felt as if he was using him once more but the plan could possibly fail if they continued.

"Ghetsis, we have eliminated more than half of Nuvema along with Accumula and the Pokémon have been released as you requested," a sage called out immediately.

"There have also been sightings of a Pokémon in the air that we are still trying to identify," a grunt mentioned.

Ghetsis nodded with satisfaction as N's eyes pierced over at his father. N knew of the plan but he didn't know if he knew about Cheren's father. He was quite unsatisfied as they had to murder people to actually liberate Pokémon. In actuality, he wanted Pokémon free but he realized that only bad trainers abuse their Pokémon and not all people in general. Team Plasma was against what he had wanted; they only continued to follow Ghetsis as his lies were all that everyone wanted to hear.

"Father, here are the documents," N gave him the papers as Ghetsis didn't even hesitate to grab them. It seemed to please him with every page he looked at.

"Boy, you are highly intelligent; have I ever told you that you an impressive son?" Ghetsis' eyes glittered as N gave himself a facepalm.

"Yes father, yes you have..." N sighed as he looked as his father shuffling around papers.

_Have I told you that you were a stupid, horrible father?_ N thought, glaring annoyingly at his father.

The papers, one by one, were passed to everyone that was sitting at the table, excluding the servants who normally didn't get involved with the main ideas. The papers contained the 'ultimate' plan to rule the world but N still doubted it. It was highly possible if Touko wasn't around but even then, Team Plasma was more powerful than ever. Even after ten years, they hid everything and planned themselves for the most brutal plan yet.

N planned everything even though there was a possible chance of failure. After staying with Touko for some days, he realized that he didn't want to do _that_ much harm to Unova. What really bothered him was his father probably going a bit over the edge with everything.

.

"And that is how we're going to rule the world; everyone agree?" Ghetsis stood up after he spoke of the grand plan.

Everyone looked up at him and not a single person said one word. N rose his hand as he stood up along with his father. He looked up at Ghetsis while he combed back his hair.

"I don't know father, this doesn't seem right." He glared up at his father one last time before he sat down.

"N, you are the one who orchestrated this magnificent plan; it must work or something shall go down." Ghetsis moved in closer to N as he whispered in his ear. "Got it?"

He chuckled as silence surrounded the room. N looked up at his father again with hatred. How could Team Plasma actually stoop so low to impress that guy next to him? Who knew, it didn't bother N much at the moment.

"Now, now Ghetsis, don't torture our king like that." A man suddenly walked from the door that led to the foyer. "I'll do much better when I succeed him; I will make sure to carry out our plans."

N's eyebrows started to sharpen as he filled with anger. He started to comb his hair and tried not to react too much. Everyone that sat at the table looked toward the door as the figure started to walk closer to the king's throne. Ghetsis smirked as he stared at N.

"And what are you doing in front of me?" N called as the figure stood ten feet away from him.

"King N, I apologize for what happened two days ago," he called as he bowed down to N and offered him a glass of water. "I was just completing my request for Ghetsis."

"Touya, you never fail to amuse me. Leave, now." N threw his left hand over, signaling for Touya to leave. "Your presence isn't needed at the moment."

Touya bowed once again at the young man as he walked away. One of the older men at the table stood up as Touya seemed to be pleasantly strolling out of the room.

"Ghetsis, you must tell—"

"Zinzolin, I shall do so eventually," Ghetsis interrupted as he walked toward the fireplace that was against the wall. "N, I hope that poor girl knows that you will no longer be staying with her, especially since you've completed that task of yours."

"You all may be dismissed," N commanded, ignoring his father. "Except Anthea and Concordia. Come here."

Ghetsis, the six men and the other grunts left the room as the Shadow Triad bowed down and disappeared. The fire started to dim a bit as the three still remained in the room. Concordia became a bit nervous as Anthea approached N normally.

"Concordia, Anthea… I would like you both to lead me to my new room." N sighed as he stood up. "As you both heard from the meeting, I am no longer staying with the girl."

Concordia bit her lip as N started to glare at her. Anthea dully looked at her lord, bowed then walked to his side while Concordia didn't move.

"That was a command; you dare not follow it, Concordia?" N continued to stare at her as Concordia flinched.

"I-I'm sorry, Lord. Forgive me as Anthea and I shall show you the way." Concordia gripped tightly onto Anthea's arm as they walked out of the room, through the foyer and into an oversized hallway.

The castle truly had resembled the one that had stood over the Pokémon League during his confrontation with Touko. The walls were embedded with gold, fountains at the end of every hallway, the doors in the castle were grand and the floor was red all over. Everything looked so perfect but they all knew it took years to build such a thing. N looked around in amazement as they ascended the majestic stairway, leading to many more as they kept going up.

While some moments passed as they walked through the halls, they stopped at a room in which the entrance was quite different from all the others. It seemed superior as there were no other rooms on this level. There was a large, satin coloured curtain blocking the appearance of a door engraved with a Zekrom on it. N was quite amazed of how much detail was done on the castle as Anthea and Concordia pulled the curtains over and pushed the door open. Inside was the largest room that N had ever seen in his entire life; it was bigger than both the foyer and the meeting room that he had seen earlier. He couldn't believe on how much space was in the room, especially since there was a bed sitting against the wall, a small library area with a desk on one side of the room. There was a bathroom and closet connected to his room which made it more efficient for privacy. The floor was just as good as the room itself; just plain red carpet. The walls were also amazing as they were golden. Windows were in front of his bed and there was also a long veranda that stretched outside of his door. They were also revealed behind red curtains.

"Here you are Lord N," Anthea called out. "Have a good night; there is a phone so just click the service button and we will be here as fast as possible."

Both Anthea and Concordia left the room after bowing. N looked at them until the door shut, him suddenly plopping on the ground.

"Man, I am beat," he muttered as he sighed in relief.

He was curious as to which room was the bathroom though. He couldn't be relaxed so he walked to the door on the left. It led him to something that was like a closet. All of his clothing was neatly ironed and hanged. Concordia always took the extra step in cleaning his clothes and N was quite grateful for that. He shut the closet as he walked to the other door. The bad thing about his room was the fact that it was almost as long as the hallway itself but only parallel; it took him around 10 seconds to get to the other side of the room while pacing himself. Eventually, he walked into the bathroom as he mistook it for a room with mini pool. His room was that grand; he wasn't too surprised though, especially since he was king. He sighed heavily and walked to his bed.

_I think they overdid my room a little_, N thought, thinking about his old room at the old castle.

His old room was quite childish but it was alright because he was isolated in it. He was certainly content with this one. He bed looked comfortable as well. A curtain hung from the top of his bed down to the floor of it. His covers were amazingly red and there were even stairs that led to his bed. How could they have not overdone his room? Still, he loved it and immediately hopped in bed. He threw his jacket on the night stand beside him as he found a control underneath him. N pulled it out and looked at the buttons.

"What? This room's climate AND lighting can be changed by this…"

N was highly shocked as he continued to flip the buttons on the control. The room finally got to a point where it was warm enough for him to sleep. He dimmed the lights as the moonlight shined in through the windows across the bed. It was comforting to him but he just couldn't sleep. He was forgetting something but he didn't know what. Still, he laid there until he fell asleep.

.

The next morning, Touko's stomach was growling loudly to no end. It woke her up and annoyed her so much to the point where she immediately ran downstairs and grabbed a couple of apples that laid in the bowl on the kitchen island. She looked outside as it was was shining very much. She slept for so long and didn't even notice as she continued to eat her apples. N still wasn't seen around after all that time had passed by. Led by curiosity, Touko ran upstairs and glared into N's room. Those papers were bothering her as she really wanted to look at them. It wasn't right to do so but she really wanted to look through them. They'd been taunting her ever since N moved in.

"I can't take it anymore!" she yelled, running to her room and immediately grabbing the phone.

.

A couple of hours after Touko flipped over the edge, her doorbell rang repeatedly for two seconds. She shot up from out of her bed as she opened the door.

"Cilan!" she called, hugging the young man who stood confidently at the door. "That wait was forever!"

"Touko! Long time no see, right?"

"Of course, of course! Come in here and follow me before I explode even more!"

Touko pulled Cilan inside as she slammed the door and dragged him up the stairs. He scratched his head as the finally approached N's door. She pointed and placed her face against the glass door, demanding that Cilan open it.

"Am I here to kill a bug or something?"

"No! Look at that desk; do you see those papers?" Her hand tapped loudly on the glass door as his back pressed against it.

"What about them?"

"If I look at them then I'll be invading someone's privacy!" She opened the door as she walked in, pushing Cilan along with her.

"What makes you think I won't be if I did the same thing?"

"W-well… It's different because I actually know this person and you don't; look at it for me!"

"Touko."

"Cilan."

"NO! Look at it with me if you're that curious, okay?" Cilan grabbed the journal and gave the pieces of paper to Touko.

First, Cilan examined the journal without a single clue what it was about. He skimmed from the beginning to end and found out that it was actually the 'diary' of N. He continued to read as he started to become fixed with the works before him. Touko scanned looked at the first page and started to read. Both of them flinched at the same time and dropped what they were reading.

Immediately, Cilan started, "On the count of three, say what you found! One… Two… Three!"

"N is somewhere in Unova and doesn't plan on coming back!" "N left some spring rolls in the fridge a couple of days ago!"

Touko looked at Cilan who was looking down at her. "Cilan, this is no time to be eating! Stop being so hungry!"

"I'm not hungry…" he replied, patting his head. "Oh, who is this N person everyone's been talking about for the past ten years? I had no knowledge of this guy but the fact that he used to live with you… wow, Touko. I wonder how Cheren feels about this!"

Touko pouted as she handed Cilan the paper. He took it and started to scan through them all at once. Finally, he cleared his throat, desiring to read it out loud.

"Listen! I will read it to you. 'Dear Touko, I never wanted you to know but I am still in knowledge of Team Plasma's plan to take over the world. Yes, I am the one who planned it all along, that is why I had papers scattered all over the desk. By the time you read this, which could possibly be the day after you see me, I would already be at my destination: with Team Plasma. There was a meeting I had to attend and the reason why I stayed with you was because I had to acquire information on you; your strengths, your weaknesses and the environment around you. I have everything I need now so I don't intend on staying anymore. My clothing? I'll eventually come get them later but at this moment, I don't really see a need in getting them. I'll help you out though because we're not completely enemies. As you should know, I'm somewhere in Unova but I won't let you know easily. You have to find out yourself. No, not completely yourself but I will give you one as to where I am. If you truly do want to take revenge on me, be prepared because you won't be having too much fun doing so. I suggest you take people along with you if you are truly going to look for me…" Cilan scratched his head as he pulled out the second sheet of paper. "Because this isn't going to be the easiest thing to do. I will tell you where I am with simple little hints; actually, this sentence is a hint itself. If you can't find me, you can't take your revenge on me. Believe me, the longer you take, the harder it'll be so I suggest you do this as fast as you possibly can… knowing you, maybe you'll be too scared to read this on my desk so I wonder how you're going to read it. Still, if you're reading this, the third page will contain everything you need. Side note: You're sleeping while I'm writing this so don't automatically assume that I didn't help you out before I left. I also looked in your library and looked around.' Wow, this guy has some nerve Touko…"

"Damn it! How is he going to leave me out in the cold like that if he was planning on leaving?" Touko clenched her fists as her eyes lit on fire.

"Pfft, c'mon Touko, calm down! Let's read the the clues; I love mysteries~" Cilan chuckled and flipped to the third page as he only saw three lines of words.

"You're twenty-four years old and you still act like a little kid!"

"Shush! I'm reading!" he giggled. 'You sit between the vicinity of danger and the forest of calm. The closer you get to danger, the closer you get to me. Hint: Knowledge is only but three doors away; the third shelf against the wall is all you seek but the core is what you truly desire. Black is the colour of darkness that leads to your next clue.' Wait, three lines? How are we gonna find him here?"

"What? That's only one clue!" Touko scratched her head as her and Cilan both started to think. "Cilan, you're smart, think of something!"

"W-well! I can't! But he did say that we were sitting between danger and calm…" Cilan started to scan the first page until he decided to walk outside of the door, the paper still in his hand.

"I'm closer to danger if you know what I mean…"

"'Knowledge is only but three doors away' Touko, he said he snuck into the library while you were sleeping…"

"Where are you going? We're not even done with the clue," Touko questioned, walking after him.

Cilan walked to the opposite side of N's room as he looked down both ways of the hallway. He first looked at the third room on the right and left sides of N's room. Touko looked at him being quite confused.

"Touko, what's in that room and what is in the other room?" he pointed at them as she walked where Cilan stood.

"Hm, the left is the library; the right is an unoccu—" They both looked at each other as they both finally got it.

Both of them ran into the library as Touko looked around.

Cilan pulled out the paper once again, reading the clue over and over. "'The third shelf against the wall is all you seek but the core is what you truly desire.' I wonder what that means."

Touko walked to the very back shelf of the library and looked at the number of shelves. There, she counted five, the third being the exact middle of the shelf.

"Cilan, come here; hurry! I think this is it," she called, pointing to the middle shelf.

He ran over and started to read it once more. "This is quite annoying… 'The third shelf against the wall is all you seek but the core is what you truly desire. Black is the colour of darkness that leads to your next clue.' Hmmm…"

Touko counted each book on the shelf; there, it contained about twenty books. She sighed heavily as she gave herself a facepalm. All of the counting got to her.

"N is way too good at playing tricks but I found it! The middle book is black and it's slightly tilted out…"

Cilan pulled the book out and took a glare at the front cover. He dropped it in shock as he sat down right next to Touko.

"Touko, do you really want to find this guy?"

"Of course I do… He wasn't supposed to leave in the first place." she replied as she clenched her fist.

"This book… It's about the legend of Lacunosa Town…"

"Wait what? Seriously?" Touko flinched as she started to shake.


	6. Chapter 6

Yes, there is not much romance between N and Touko yet but I'll make up for it; keep reading. Your patience shall be rewarded is what I _should_ be saying…

P.S.: Cheren needs to stop with this shoe thing.

.

"Doesn't the thought of going there make you scared at all, Touko?" Cilan sighed as he examined the front cover. "I-I bet I can go there alone at night!"

"Of course I'm scared! Didn't you hear about that Pokémon thing that eats people? I don't want to go…"

"But I thought you wanted to go find N, no?"

"I do, I do! Let's look for that clue…"

"Could this be the clue though? Maybe there's something in it…"

Cilan opened the book as he flipped the pages one by one. They both glared at the pictures and decided that it was too scary to keep looking. Touko helped flip the pages until she became upset from how much time it took.

"Gah, give me that book, I'll teach it a lesson!"

Touko lifted the book and shook it until a folded piece of paper fell out of it. She sniffed as Cilan grabbed the book back from her, placing it back on the shelf where it once laid.

"Well then, Touko, be unladylike and shake the book like crazy…"

"I found the paper though right? I think it was in the middle of the book so maybe that's also what he meant by core…"

They flipped open the note as Cilan started to read. There were actually two notes folded into one.

"'If you actually found this in under an hour, good job. If you already knew the answer without coming to the book, even better. Wait, you wouldn't have been able to read this if you did… Anyhow, as you may notice, this piece of paper is not a clue, rather, it is a hint. The answer to your first clue was written on the cover of the book… Lacunosa Town."

Cilan gulped as Touko started to shake a bit.

_I don't know if I wanna do this anymore… _she thought, stuffing her face behind her knees.

"'Well, now that I think about it, maybe this could be considered as a clue… Still, here is your next whatever you wanna call it: Standing past the wall, there is nothing on the right but four on the left; the second one after entrance is what you're looking for but you don't have permission to enter.'"

"Wait, what the hell? How are we supposed to get to the clue if we don't have permission to enter?"

"Hold on, hold on, let me read the second page…" Cilan flipped to the second page and continued to read. "'There is a way. Upon facing toward it, look around, your permission was there all along. Enter where you have longed to do so and what you desire is in a place you would never expect. Also, did you know that Elesa's hair colour is unknown? I found out on day three.'"

"Wait, what does Elesa have to do with any of this and what is day three?" Touko pouted as she stood up, picking Cilan up with her. "Whatever, now we have to go to Lacunosa right now and look for that damn clue! I mean sure, it's ten minutes away from here but what if it gets dark by the time we get there?"

"We have Pokémon with us and that legend is older than the sum of you, me and all of the gym leaders of all the regions!" Cilan smiled as he confidently walked out of the room. "Besides, if you take me along with you, we'll be quite fine; I'm not scared of that old legend too!"

Touko grabbed the papers as she ran out, following Cilan down the steps. The thought of being alone scared her more than ever, especially trying to deal with the fact that she had to go to Lacunosa Town in person. That legend even bothered her due to her closeness to the town. It was quite uncommon for people to walk outside after nine due to the Pokémon that ate people in the city. It often bothered her because there was a giant chasm close by that no one was to approach or else bad things would happen. Who cared, it wasn't that close to her, else she wouldn't have been living in Caitlin's villa the entire time.

"You have to hurry and grab your stuff before it gets super, super dark and we can't go!" Touko started to clench onto Cilan's shirt as he walked toward the door.

"Touko! It's only one o'clock; why are you so scared? I flew here so I'll be back in no time!"

As soon as Cilan opened the door, a somewhat short girl was standing right in front of him, close to ringing the doorbell. He flinched and fell onto Touko as the woman giggled a bit.

"Ah! Iris, what brings you over here?" Touko smiled and signaled her to come in.

"Good day Iris!" Cilan smiled as he waved at her. "Too bad I have to go; see you around sometime later!"

"Later Cilan, hi Touko! I came to come visit for a tiny bit." Iris walked in as Cilan walked out. "Are you busy?"

Touko scratched her head as she started to laugh a bit, "Actually, I'm not busy at all; I'm just about to get ready for a small journey over Unova once again."

"Whoa, why?"

"So a friend of mine is gone and I was going to look for him. He gave me some clues but the next place we have to go is… is… Lacunosa Town!"

Touko gulped as she ran to the couch, dragging Iris along with her. Iris was quite interested to know more while Touko continued to panic at the thought of going.

"There's nothing wrong with that right?"

"Of course not! It's Lacunosa Town; have you not heard of the legend there?"

"Um... Touko, it's quite impossible for the legend to be true, especially since people still walk around Lacunosa in the middle of the night," Iris started to pat the young woman on the back. "They have patrol there too. Believe me, I've walked around at night without a problem!"

Touko gave herself a facepalm as Iris started to giggle. Then, Iris pulled from her pocket a small box and handed it to Touko as she smiled.

"Well! I had no idea. Also, what is this?"

"I came to drop it off for someone; think of it as one of the real reasons why I'm here!" She stood up and looked down at Touko. "I'll be seeing you in a couple of weeks; I have work to do at the Dragonspiral Tower!"

Iris waved at Touko as she walked off. The Xtransceiver that laid on the table started to ring. Touko flinched as she hadn't heard it ring in quite a while. It had to be Cilan but who knew. She clicked it open and looked directly at the screen.

"Gah! Cilan? Why is Chili and Cress here…"

"We're all coming with you along with Bianca!" Cilan seemed to be still in the sky as his side of the call seemed to be shaking a bit.

He hung up as she placed the Xtransceiver on the table. She was still quite curious to know what was inside of the box. To her surprise, there was some sort of shiny rock along with a note that hid underneath it. After a quick glance, she assumed that it was another clue given from Iris to her though as she opened the note and read it, it seemed to be from someone of her past. She threw the box on the ground as she pouted.

"Man, even I'd rather be with N than this guy…" she muttered, kicking the box to the other side of the room.

"I doubt it." A voice randomly shot from behind the door.

Touko hid underneath the pillow as she stayed looking toward the wall.

Seconds later, she flinched as the door suddenly opened. She turned around and felt a hand on her head.

"Cheren! What are you doing here?"

"This might be a creepy thing to say but I was actually standing by the door planning to stay the night." he dropped his bag on the ground as he proceeded to sit right beside her. "I overheard you but I'll help you find N."

"How did you know that I was going to look for him?"

"His shoes aren't there. Also, I don't like him but I'm still coming along."

"Why don't you like—" she suddenly stopped at the moment she realized what she was saying.

"You don't like him either and you know it. You should know why too…"

"…"

"Why do you want to look for him anyway? He truly can't be worth it can he?"

At that moment, she scanned her mind to find a perfectly good reason. She knew she really didn't want to get her revenge on him but she also didn't like him in a manner that she'd be comfortable with. Touko shook her head as Cheren pushed his glasses up.

"It doesn't matter!"

"I'll be back."

Cheren walked upstairs as Touko remained sitting on the couch. She wasn't too happy about going but it was good enough to know it was going to be with her old friends she started her first journey with. She had Cheren, who was faster than anyone she could think of. Bianca got a whole lot stronger apparently since she came back from Sinnoh recently. The triplets didn't exactly age physically throughout the years; they still looked the same, just taller of course, way taller.

"An adventure with everyone again except we'll actually be moving faster… Sounds like a plan!"

"Of course Touko. Memories brought back, eh?" Cheren stood directly behind Touko as she flinched up.

"Why are you sneaking up behind me like that? Are you crazy, Cheren?"

"It's funny to see your reactions you know." The male chuckled quietly as Touko started to blush, causing her to hide her face. "Maybe I should go make you something to eat before we leave so you don't get hungry right away."

He threw a small bag at Touko as he walked to the kitchen. It looked as if Cheren already got everything ready for her. She was still a bit down from what had happen the past few days but they eventually moved passed it, especially since no one actually brought it up. Cheren messed around in the kitchen for an hour until the doorbell rung. He walked toward the door as it opened from the other side and smacked against his face.

"Oopsies… Sorry Cheren!"

Bianca appeared as she waved at Touko. As she walked in, three males followed her in. Everyone was there and prepared to 'save' N, even though he left on his free will.

Cheren pushed his glasses back, "That's like you, Bianca, clumsy as ever."

"Wait, why are you guys actually coming along?" Touko placed both of her hands on the side of her head as she flipped backward.

"Well, Bianca has research to do there as my brothers just want to visit so it'll be you and me." Cilan confidently smiled as Cheren pointed to himself.

"Cheren is going too actually… Wait! My Pokéballs; are they in my bag?"

"Yes, now let's go before it gets dark."

"Let's go!" Cilan led everyone up the rocky slope.

The triplets along with Bianca smiled as Cheren pushed his glasses back. It was the beginning of another fun yet short journey as everyone walked out and continued heading north on Route 13.

.

N finally looked at his clock as his arms flew in the air, supporting a large yawn. It was early afternoon but he had nothing much to do so he decided to wonder take a bath for a while. His clothing dropped on the floor beside his bed as he assertively walked off without a care in the world. The split second he walked toward the bathroom, he heard a female's voice from the intercom above.

"_L-Lord N, I recommend you remove clothing in the bathroom and not in the room where there's a camera watching you…_"

N started to blush as he ran towards the bathroom. He was embarrassed but of course they would have placed cameras in his room; maybe it was so he wouldn't plan anything without anyone knowing. Ghetsis made sure that they kept a very close eye on him. N didn't know yet but there were grunts swarming his hallway as they tried to guard his door, not even allowing the slightest breeze into the room.

"They can't be serious! How can I have privacy if they're lacing cameras all over the damn room?" N started to rage as he turned on the water in the bath. "Who knows, maybe the bath has a camera on the bottom…"

After saying that, his eyes opened wide as he stopped the water. N literally looked everywhere for a camera. The soap dish could have been the least obvious spot so he looked there. He looked in the shelves full of towels. Nothing there as well. Toilet couldn't have one; that would have been pushing it. He looked behind the TV that was inside of the wall. Now he thought they were overdoing it too much after he looked around a bit more. Finally, he came to the realization that he was actually overreacting as he turned the water back on, grabbed a towel and stared out through the glass door behind the curtains.

A thought finally hit his head. He wondered how Touko was catching up with the clues although, she probably wouldn't have found them if she was too scared to snoop. To be on the safe side, he planned to go and place more clues as he would try to fool the grunts into thinking he had personal business to do. The pool leaked over as N felt it against his feet. He quickly ran over to stop it as he sunk in the water, letting out a huge, pleasant sigh. The unseen intercom above him went off after he did so.

"_Lord, I was requested to inform you that you have been scheduled for dinner with Ghetsis," _Anthea cleared her throat as N's eyes irritably looked up. _"I shall lead you out of your room in an hour. As for now, enjoy your bath; the remote control is sitting in the compartment to the right of you if you were wondering._"

Anthea clicked the button as it dismissed her from his personal time. He was quite shocked at how they implemented intercoms in this new castle. They could simply be taken out upon his request but he knew they would eventually come in handy. Still, he enjoyed his alone time until Anthea decided to drag him out of the bath.

.

"Touko, why are you pulling my arm down so much? If you keep doing that, we won't reach Lacunosa Town before this sunset…"

Cheren dragged Touko as she faced to the direction of the villa. She surely didn't want to go but she had to face her fears and get over it. Eventually, she lightened her grip on him as he simply turned her around and forced her to walk herself. Bianca stood behind them, giggling as the triplets smiled along; Chili was humming, Cilan was contently walking and Cress looked around like he never saw nature before. The dead leaves had laid on the ground after a season of relaxation. The wind started to turn cooler as they continued to walk into the direction of Lacunosa.

"That's odd, why is the wind blowing more than it did before?" Cress stood still which halted everyone else. "It's quite cool now to the point where it's cooler than me."

Cress giggled as Chili clenched his fist at him, "Bad time for a pun! It's almost getting dark! But you're right, why is it getting colder here?"

"Well still, we can't turn back now; we're halfway there just so you know." Cheren pushed his glasses back as Touko pointed to a bush a bit further than them.

"I-I think there's something there! I saw something running across the path!"

"Now you're seeing things Touko!" Bianca patted the young woman as she shook her head. "Come on guys! We'll be there eventually."

They all continued to walk as the sunset finally took its place before them. Lacunosa wasn't too far away but Touko started to get nervous along with Cilan. Everyone else ignored them as they dragged them both along. Mere seconds later, a heavy wind blew in their faces as Cress stopped once more, once again halting the crew.

"Okay, this isn't right. Something is just not right now…" he muttered quietly as he walked to the bush that Touko was pointing to earlier. "What if there's something here manipulating the wind?"

"Stop it! You're going to get snatched by something evil," Touko started to flip out as Cilan walked toward the bush.

"Wait, let me see too! Chili, stay over there. This is a job for—"

Cilan flinched as he ran back and hid behind Touko. Cress started to laugh uncontrollably as he pointed at the bush. Everyone walked closer when they noticed it was a Purrloin.

"It's a black cat and it's evil! It crossed our path!" Cilan started to clench more onto Touko's shirt as she moved in closer. "Come on, let's go!"

"Goodness, Cilan, we wasted time because of your whining," Chili called out, pouting as he continued to walk. "I can't believe you're a man now and you're still afraid of those Pokémon!"

Everyone followed suit as Cilan decided to walk with Touko, eventually causing Cheren to move next to Bianca. He still continued to grip onto her shirt due to his irrational fear of that certain Pokémon; it became quite evident that he possibly wasn't going to function correctly if they got to Lacunosa Town.

"So, if the wind blows once more, I'm going to have something to say about it," Cress declared.

"It's not bothering any of us though…" Bianca placed her finger on her lip as she started to think about the causes of the wind pattern.

Sure, it wasn't normal that the wind blew that hard when they walked a bit earlier. It was quite like a huge gust with power but they couldn't put their finger on it.

Eventually, they saw the wall of Lacunosa and were all relieved. Touko stopped being scared after walking in the dark for a couple of minutes. Maybe Iris was right about the legend all along but there was no one to be seen outside as they approached the wall.

"Iris told me that there is night patrol here if anyone was wondering why it was so quiet."

Suddenly, the wind started to blow onto the right side of everyone, causing them all to flinch and run toward the town. A Pokémon's loud cry was heard from a distance.

"Maybe that legend still applies now!" Touko and company ran until they realized that the clue was exactly in this town. "Oh! Cilan, what about that paper? The clue is here!"

He smiled as he pulled out a folded piece of paper while they hid directly behind the first house they saw. Cilan looked at the paper and didn't say a single word while Touko was expecting him to read aloud. He looked around the vicinity to make sure no one was looking at them walking around. A heavy sigh slipped out as he pointed to the house directly in front of them. It was the clue they had been looking for.

"See? We're past the wall and there are no houses on the right in doing so unless we went up the hill, but on our level, there are five so this house has got to be it!" Cilan was whispering with excitement. "Okay, okay, now all we have to do is find our permission to enter…"

"You all are on your own though; I have to go complete my research elsewhere!" Bianca waved as she ran up the stairs to the next level.

"Wait, you can't go yet!" Touko threw her hand in the direction of Bianca as she continued on.

"She had to go, remember?" Cilan grabbed her shoulders lightly as he sighed. "Onto the clue, shall we?"

Cheren, Chili and Cress were clueless as they had no idea what the clue said but they didn't care; they looked everywhere on the side of the house for the key; from pots to plants, to grass to lamps. There was even a side door that didn't budge. They couldn't find anything until they realized there was a mat sitting near the front door of the house. Everyone looked at each other back and forth until all eyes laid on Cheren. He pushed his glasses back as he looked around the corner. An officer had randomly come out of nowhere.

"That's not fair," Cheren whispered, cracking his fist. "Just because I'm probably the smartest doesn't mean I always have a plan."

"You realize that if he finds us here, he'll think we're doing something suspicious," Touko scratched her head as she pointed at the young man. "Normally, they only stay out for two hours. I don't think we wanna wait that long either."

"Then you go do something about it, Touko; I still have nothing in mind." Cress flipped his hair as he leaned against the wall.

She pushed everyone back, walking out carelessly. She had a plan but no one really knew what it was. Instead of allowing her to walk off, Chili and Cheren pulled her back around the corner as she tried walking off again; they didn't stop her again because it wasn't even worth doing so.

"Touko, if you mess this up, it's on you!" Chili pouted as he plopped on the ground.

"She's got it, believe me," Cress interfered. "I know what she's trying to do."

"Then what? She's going to get us caught!"

"Just keep watching, Chili, keep watching…"

Suddenly, a sound of something dropping from the roof caught only Cheren's attention. As he walked over to it, he noticed that it was the key they had all been looking for.

"Well I hope she doesn't do anything irrational because I have the key." Cheren threw the key over to Cilan, pushing his glasses back as everyone turned around in shock.

"How did you even get that?" Chili put his fist up as they all retreated in the shadows.

"It fell from somewhere. How did you guys not even hear that? Anyways, I think that's the key to get inside. I don't know for sure but let's keep it just in case."

"Damn, she had better know how to get out of this one then." Chili gave himself a poke in the cheek as he continued to peer over the wall.

Everyone retreated once more as Touko looked over at the guard. They all fell back right in front of the door that had been spotted earlier. Cilan, holding the key that Cheren found, grinned as he stood up, trying to unlock the door on the side. It had then been obvious that the key wasn't the same one to open the house. No one paid attention to him as they continued to look at the possible plan of failure.

_Wait, if this isn't the key, then what is it?_ Cilan stroked his chin as they all went back to glare past the wall.

She stood right on top of the mat that for sure couldn't have the key. Staring at her got everyone quite nervous until she started to make noises calling out for help. The guard that stood right on the other side of town ran to her as everyone pressed against the wall but tried to look at what was going on.

"Sir, I can't get into my house and I lost the key here somewhere; can you please help me find it?" She started to cry even louder as the man tried to quiet her down.

"Of course ma'am!" the officer tipped his hat down, helping Touko look around.

_This plan cannot get any more worse than this… Especially since we have the key in our hands. _Cheren pushed his glasses back as he slid his face around the corner further than anyone else.

Touko leaned over to the mat and directly looked under it as to everyone's surprise excluding her, there was a key hidden underneath the mat.

_Aha! I found it!_ She smiled as she immediately stood up.

"Oh nevermind, I found it! Thank you for helping anyway." She bowed down to the officer, immediately then facing the door before her.

The officer smiled as he walked back to his post. Touko tried to quickly unlock the door as everyone ran over to it. Before the officer even had a chance to turn around, they all stuffed themselves inside of the house causing him to look suspiciously back into their direction.

"You all owe me something for doing that!" Touko laughed obnoxiously loud at how successful her plan went.

"We can figure that all out later AFTER we find the light source," Cheren sighed dramatically as he started to wonder around the dark house.

As far as they all could ever know, this could have been someone else's house but they didn't care as all they were focused about were trying to find the clue to lead them on. Everyone aimlessly threw their hands around as they tried to look for a light switch or something of that sort. It went on for a minute as Cress slapped against some button on the wall, causing all the lamps in the room to lighten up the room a bit more.

"Well don't _you_ feel smart?"

Chili pulled a fist up at him as everyone looked around. The house was actually bigger than they expected. It contained stairs that possibly led to rooms. There was a kitchen with grabbed the triplets' attention the most. There were books all over the place which took Touko's attention. The house wasn't their main priority as after they examined the room, they looked everywhere for the clue.

"Quick, he said it's in a place you'd never suspect!" Cilan zoomed to the kitchen along with his brothers, leaving Cheren to run upstairs as Touko continued to look in the books that laid around.

.

N rushed out of the bathroom as it was almost time to see his father. He purposely stayed longer than expected to piss him off. Ghetsis' anger wasn't exactly what he wanted to deal with but he knew that it was going to eventually happen tonight at dinner.

Everything with his father was strictly business and nothing more. He didn't want to have to work so hard, especially when he was bugged constantly day to day with his annoying requests.

He contemplated on what to wear until he approached his bed; it seemed as if someone walked into his room and left some clothing on it. As he walked closer, he finally remembered that Concordia always picked his clothing out for him. It wasn't anything much special; he had to wear a cloak over his clothing if he ever thought about roaming the castle; it was what made him fit for a king and it was also what made him seem like he was a king. N walked to his closet as he put on all black, nothing too special. The cloak was thrown over him as he walked out of his room. Not surprised, he saw some grunts standing guard by the door as they continued to look forward: opposite the wall of the room. A member of the Shadow Triad appeared back facing toward N as they walked down the steps. Everything was just a replay of what he already had done previously at his destroyed castle. The process was quite simple everyday: plan, plan, plan and plan even more.

As they continued on, N noticed that he was being taken to somewhere else he wasn't too familiar with. It was the look that caught him off guard. They walked into a large room, similar to the meeting room yet more elegant and larger. It appeared to be the dining room as everything was set up for him. Of course, N thought that Team Plasma just decided to overdo everything as it wasn't even necessary.

The Shadow Triad member immediately disappeared as N already knew where to sit: the throne. He approached the throne, only to have his two lovely servants pull the throne back for him. It was quite surprising as he didn't know where they came from.

"So where is Ghetsis? It's almost time for the dinner to start, correct?" N played with his hair as he continued to wait for his father.

"He will be here shortly, Lord," Anthea immediately replied. "Touya will be your assistant for the night; play nice, Lord because we certainly don't want trouble."

"Anthea, those words don't please me."

"I'm sorry, Lord. Enjoy your dinner as Concordia and I will be watching you from a distance."

The two walked off as N tried to figure out what she meant by watching him. Ghetsis walked in the room as he carried papers in his hand. N assumed that they were probably the same papers that contained the plan. Ghetsis took his seats at the table as the lights above them were all generated from the crystal chandelier that hung from the ceiling. It was quite a sight to behold even though it wasn't completely dark outside. The room stood completely still as Touya walked out from the kitchen and proceeded to give out all of what had been prepared. Both N and Ghetsis endured silence for a while as they ate. The waves from outside of the castle's side sounded soothing and surprised both of them by how loud they eventually got.

"N, I'd like to ask you something." Ghetsis placed the papers directly next to his plate.

"Yes father?"

"How do you feel about Team Plasma rising to the top?"

"I don't want Pokémon liberation, nor do I want to rule the world." N sighed quite heavily as he continued to eat his food. "I just follow where you go, Ghetsis."

"It doesn't help if you truly don't want to become involved, N. You are the one who contributed the work in this. Don't you want to rule the world with me?"

N stopped eating for and stared at Ghetsis for a bit. He couldn't tell if he was being serious, especially since ten years ago, it almost worked if only Touko wouldn't have unleashed the last attack. Ghetsis had his plan worked out quite well but it all took the cooperation of the blinded N to actually hold on to his ideal for so long.

"Sorry father but you can rule the world on your own time. I don't want to be involved in such."

N wiped his mouth as he stood up, Anthea walking directly in front of him as Concordia followed the both of them. Ghetsis stood up, infuriated that N had simply rejected his offer in his face.

.

After searching around for some odd amount of time, Touko had finished looking through the books in which she had thrown all over the place. Without any hope, she sat there and started looking all over again. The triplets had fun looking around the overly large kitchen but they still didn't find anything. They all sighed then walked over to Touko.

"So, we didn't find anything. Did you find anything Touko?" Cilan asked, helping her look through the already checked books.

"I think my eyes are going to fall out if I continue doing this... I already looked through those by the way."

"Let's clean this up then go upstairs with Cheren; he doesn't seem to be done looking around up there…" Cress suggested.

While they cleaned up, Cheren was in an unknown room. There were many rooms to pick from but he decided to start from the back then make his way toward the stairway. He was searching everywhere possible as they were all places he wouldn't expect. Suddenly, his heart started to ache while he continued looking. It was a sharp pain that continued to stab into him the more he ignored it.

"This cannot be happening right now… not right now," he stuttered, immediately falling into the wall; it caused him to pass out from the pain which emitted a very loud crashing noise.

"Did you guys hear that?"

Cress shot up from the ground as he faced the stairs that laid in the corner of the room. Everyone faced directly in that direction as Touko rushed to put the last book in its place.

"Of course we all heard that!" Chili was the first to run off upstairs as the other three followed along.

"Great, we're stuck; he can be in any six of these rooms."

Touko signaled the triplets to go look for him. Seconds after, Cilan pointed to the last room as they ran inside. Cheren was laying on the ground; he didn't look exactly too well. Chili and Cilan carried him and placed him on the bed that was also in the room.

"Quick, check his pulse!"

Chili giggled along with Touko while Cilan actually did check his pulse. He was still alive, just passed out and unable to actually do anything. They let him lay there as silence engulfed them all.

"That's actually quite weird… How could he have passed out?" Cress poked his cheek as he sat next to Cheren.

"We can't worry about that now; we need that clue! GRRR!" Touko started to raid the rest of the room while Chili was trying to get some kind of a grip on her.

"You can't be serious; he's your friend! But I guess he'll be fine if we let him lay down."

"He's Cheren, of course he'll be fine. That clue has to be here somewhere…"

As Touko moved onto the wooden closet, she noticed a model of a ferris wheel sitting on top of a stack of books. Her eyes opened as the books caught her attention more than the model did. Examining it longer than expected cause Cilan to walk and look into the closet as well.

"That's quite odd… Why is there a model of a ferris wheel though?" he questioned, taking it out as Touko was still staring at the books. "C'mon woman, we have something to look at here."

"Oh, of course!"

Cilan placed the ferris wheel on the desk that was conveniently placed next to the bed. Everyone examined it out of huge curiosity.

"Why are we looking at this again?" Touko sighed heavily as she laid next to Cheren. "All I remember N hinting at was a day three and Elesa's hair…"

"I don't even remember why I pulled it out; it was just quite suspicious how it's sitting here. What if those hints were pointing at this?"

"But how? It's quite impossible… It's a model of a ferris wheel; that can't work out."

Cress hopped from off of the ground as they looked surprisingly at him. He moved in closer to the model as he pointed to something that was in one of the cars.

"Look, don't you see that? There's something inside of it."

Touko shot up as she continued to look at the ferris wheel but this time, she actually looked closer.

"See, glad we have Cress here right?" Cilan asked, trying to open the car door. "Wait, why won't this open?"


	7. Chapter 7

Oh, so I got a new computer after my other one died on me. Here I am back with the story or something though. I've been working on another story since I got a new computer so I never got to this one until today (7/31). Hopefully, I can try to post at least 2-3 chapters a week before dying completely. Also, I think it's really crazy how I finished off this chapter. Keep reading as I twist the story up more…

.

"This bastard is clever," Chili sighed, leaning on the wall as the rest of them continued to look at the ferris wheel, only pissing them off even more.

"I mean, it's not a bad thing that he is," Touko uttered, lying back down on the bed.

"Maybe we should smash it!"

Cress and Cilan glared at their brother oddly. Chili was obviously the one that always had to do something drastic to stop the waiting on something. He was the impatient one out of the three.

"Or you can calm down before you break something that doesn't belong to you!" Cress slapped him in the head before returning to his original position.

They started to sit for a bit until Cilan ran out of the room. Some lighting flashed through the window which startled them.

"Well that was quite scary…" Touko sat up immediately and clenched her knees together.

Everyone, who was alerted, looked at the door until Cilan decided to come back in. In his hand, he held the very same key that Cheren had found earlier.

"Cheren told me to keep it because it might eventually come in handy. I can't imagine what would have happened if we didn't find that key or if he hadn't paid attention to it."

He immediately ran to the ferris wheel as Touko hopped out of the bed, Cress walked closer and Chili stood back up. The car door was unlocked faster than everyone could actually get a chance to see. In their grasps, they had the next clue that they had eagerly been looking for.

"So what are these clues for if Chili and I could know?" Cress scratched his cheek as Chili slapped him.

"It doesn't matter! Let's read this one; the suspense is killing me!"

"Sure bros, calm down! 'For some reason, if you couldn't find this clue, I wouldn't have been surprised. It was actually hidden so of course you couldn't suspect this inside. I hope you understood the hints that I gave earlier though. Elesa is the gym leader of Nimbasa, which also contains the very ferris wheel we rode on day three of your journey.'" Cilan's eyes started to widen as Touko's content self shot out of the ground.

"Man! He truly is smart if he could remember that after 10 years."

"'Well, if you did find this, I suppose you have that key on you still. Keep it; it'll come in handy when you least expect! Your next clue: Here, you're in more danger than before. Do you want out? Refer to the last hint if you want the next except this time, the clue will find you before you find it. You can stay here for the night as there is probably a storm occurring right about now. Everything in this house is for your disposal. Also think about why you're looking for me.'"

Cilan handed the paper for her to hold as all three of the brothers seemed quite confused about the clue. Touko sighed as she hopped back on the bed with Cheren still on. N's clues were too hard to figure out without a bit of thinking. The last sentence hit her the most as she truly didn't know why she was looking for him. It was just less lonely with him around but she could have just called friends to come see her. What was it that she wanted from him? She didn't know but finding him was her main priority at the moment.

"Looks like the kitchen is where we're all going Touko!" Cilan waved away as his brothers walked out of the room. "Dinner will be ready in no time."

"Wow," she uttered. "These triplets don't stop cooking do they?!"

Touko didn't actually wish to do anything, mainly because Cheren wasn't active. She laid there for some time until she heard a bit of grunting from him. It startled her but she sat up and shook him around lightly.

"Cheren? Are you finally awake?"

"No. I'm sleeping; leave me alone." He chuckled until she hit him in the face.

"So you're going to act like that when I sit here and wait for you to wake up?"

"I had no idea anyone would come up here and get me actually." Cheren sat up as Touko backed up a bit. "I don't know what happened to me but I'm glad I'm alright."

"We found the clue so you don't have to worry about looking for it; I think you should read it though, it's pretty hard this time…"

"Don't worry too much about it, Touko. Where are the triplets?"

"They're making dinner! Just rest some more because they'll take a bit."

Immediately, Touko pushed the young man down back on the bed as she collapsed right next to him. She couldn't tell but Cheren was quite happy about how she was taking the initiative to take care of him. Without any hesitation, he turned around and smiled at her as she closed her eyes, listening to the great storm that took place outside of the house.

.

Both Anthea and Concordia decided to take a small stroll outside of the castle. It seemed close to raining but they didn't mind it at all; anything to keep themselves away from Team Plasma was basically an escape for them. The sky wore a deep shade of purple along with the grey clouds that flew along with it. The moon was full as the night started to grow old. Both of the goddesses followed along a path of silver stone that led to a somewhat grand fountain.

"Concordia, why have you been acting so different lately?"

The young goddess flinched as Anthea started to mess around with her own hair. The wind started to lightly blow on their faces as it came along, creeping up on the both of them when they let their guard down. They both fell into a deep silence as Concordia started to contemplate on what to say.

"You're in love, aren't you, sister?" Anthea blurted out. "I knew there was something bothering you all along."

"Well, I guess you can-" She received a quick handed slap from Anthea which interrupted her severely.

"That's quite pathetic! You can't fall in love with our lord; it's just not right," Anthea yelled, turning around and accelerating toward the fountain. "It wouldn't fit the plan if he loved you the same way, you know."

"Of course… the plan, but I can't help it! It doesn't matter how he is or treats me, it'll always be the same thing." Concordia followed behind as Anthea stopped.

"Just remember the plan, alright? If we don't help Ghetsis, things won't end well so just keep looking forward."

"Easy for you to say; you don't even know how I feel!"

Concordia looked down and simply just turned away, running back to their starting point. Anthea did nothing except watch the blonde haired woman run off as the rain started coming down gracefully. A sigh escaped her lips as she sat on a lone bench by the fountain.

.

N wanted to walk to his office after being absent from work for a while. A high ranked Plasma member accompanied him as they walked down the hallway. It was quite awkward for him to walk up the castle with silence so he decided to initiate a conversation.

"So, Ghetsis hired new people while I was away, hm?"

The female stopped, turned around and nodded, "Yes. Lord."

"I see…" he muttered, walking forward. "I'll just go up alone; you have no need to come along."

The female bowed to him as she walked a different direction. Without either of them realizing it, N had no idea where he was going… or did he? The castle was constructed with accuracy to create the exact same castle as they had before. From the outside, it looked flamboyant as it did not fit the scenery at all. He could find his way around without even trying and so he did.

As he contemplated a bit on what to do, he turned around and looked back in the direction the female had gone. In his view, he saw a small card dropped on the ground. It caught his attention which caused him to move toward it. Within a few seconds of hesitation, he bent over to pick it up and quickly stuck it in his pocket. He surely had no idea what it was but he would examine it when he went to the office. He walked after sighing heavily and immediately focused on a different subject. Only one thing bothered him that night and it was if Touko was going to come look for him.

"I wonder if she's going to bother coming," he whispered, walking off slowly.

.

The triplets, Touko and Cheren had dinner while the storm was still passing through the town. Normally, Touko would be out looking at the stars but it was storming so much and she didn't know where to go if she were to look up at the sky. Instead, she ran upstairs directly after she was done eating to read the clue once more. Her legs were clenched up against her as she laid on her side. She felt tired but kept blinking enough to keep her awake. She covered herself with a blanket and faced a wall as her thoughts took her off to another world.

_I don't get this clue_, she thought. _This is harder than I thought._ _If I'm right though, he should mean to go to-_

"Nimbasa City; am I right?" Cheren suddenly interrupted her while she shot up from the covers.

"W-Where did you come from?! And what are you talking about?

"Y'know, the clue. I read it when you dozed off."

"I thought you could read minds for a second there, Cheren," Touko giggled. "Well, if you think it's Nimbasa, we should head there next… wonder why he made us come here though."

"It's the key," he softly called out. "It's going to lead us to something, you know."

"I guess."

Touko sighed heavily as she got back under the covers. Cheren sat down on the bed, back facing toward her as he showed no emotion at all; it was pretty typical for him to do so. He pulled Touko up closer to her as she didn't reject or push him away. It seemed as if she needed comfort and he was going to give it to her.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm just tired, don't mind me."

"That's not it; I know that there's something else going on with you."

"No, I'll be fine really! I just need to sleep it off." As she tried to flip back in bed, Cheren pulled her back up and eventually made her stand.

"You should shower first. I'll stand by the door as always."

Within seconds, Touko looked down but looked back up to smile a bit. She pulled Cheren closer into her grasp as she hugged him tightly. Relieved, she walked to get her items as she returned up, dragging him along to the bathroom. As she reached the door, she gave him a reassuring smile that she was okay as she walked in. He sat directly in front of the door as she prepared to shower.

_I kinda wonder how N is doing right now, _she thought. Her clothing flew off onto the ground as she slipped into the shower. The warm water hit her back as she started to rub soap on herself, reaching every inch on her body. All that ran through her mind was N and she didn't know why. She started to untie her hair as she while she thought about everything that happened for the past few days. Most of it (of course) included N. Touko sighed and started to reminiscence in the days he was around. She really didn't care if all they did was argue and didn't talk much, she still thought of him as a friend. She simply smiled as she tried to wet her long, brown hair. Moments later, she started thinking a bit too far and knocked down bottles in the shower, causing Cheren to get a bit worried.

"Touko? Are you okay?" he questioned, opening the door slightly and peeking in.

"U-Um, yeah, that w-was an accident…"

"I'm sitting in here; you're being clumsy again." Cheren walked in and shut the door quietly behind him. "If you can't shower properly, I don't think you can sleep properly."

"Hmph, fine then, bet you I won't knock anyt-" Touko bumped into the wall, causing a bar of soap to fall. "Nevermind!"

"See? Just calm down and don't be so tense when you shower." He muttered, pushing his glasses back. "What's on your mind anyway?"

"Your annoying voice is what's on my mind!"

"It's only annoying because you're so clumsy and tense."

"So what?" she asked, turning off the faucet. "It's normal…"

"Nothing, just hurry and get out because you've been in here for quite some time." Cheren stood up and walked back out, sitting by the door. "I'll still be right here so be careful."

"I'll be fi-"

Touko crashed into the ground below her as she slipped on the mat next to the shower. Her towel completely flew off of her as she was somewhat paralyzed from falling. She heard the doorknob move around as she tried to get up quickly.

"No, don't come in!" she screamed, rubbing her back down.

In a mere couple of seconds, Touko's face turned to a deep, deep red as Cheren walked in and pushed his glasses back. He didn't change his emotion at all but instead, he helped her get up, not minding her being naked. She repeatedly attempted to slap him off of her but he was just too strong. He threw the towel on her, grabbed her clothing and carried her back to the room.

"Let me go, let me go, let me go!"

"But you're going to get hurt again and I won't allow it." Immediately, she stopped as he placed her on the bed. "I'm not looking so you should change."

Touko sighed heavily as she rapidly put her clothing on. She continued to look at Cheren's back as she did so to make sure he wasn't looking. From the back, he looked like the young boy he once was though he was a bit taller and was less pouty. When she finished, she threw a shirt at him, or so she thought it was.

"Finished!"

"Don't throw your bra at me, woman."

Cheren walked toward the bed and laid right beside her after she cuddled a pillow underneath the covers. Touko was quite nervous as she was being clumsy all evening with Cheren. First dinner, then the shower, now this? She covered her face as he removed his glasses and faced her direction. She turned around and noticed how close he was to her.

_Why are you looking at me like that?_ she thought, cuddling in closer to her pillow.

"Because you're scaring me," Cheren surprisingly replied. "What's the matter? You don't want to tell me."

"I think you're a mind reader, that's what!"

Touko poked Cheren's nose as he sighed, moving in even more closer to her. It's not that he could read minds, it was just that he could tell her emotions with just the slightest facial expressions. He known her for so long that nothing he predicted could be wrong; it was almost like he lived inside of her mind but at the same time, he barely knew what was going on with her.

They continued staring at each other for some time until Touko started to close her eyes, getting tired from the 'staring contest' they were having. Cheren chuckled as he stood up, advancing toward the door. He took a couple of seconds to examine Touko before he left.

The young woman's arms rose toward him, "I'm not sleeping yet, come back!" Her hands fell back down as she was caught in a trance: her mind.

Cheren smiled then walked out of the room to check on the triplets, who seemed like they already found a comfortable room for themselves. He had no intention of sleeping with anyone except himself unless Touko didn't want to be alone. He took the liberty of grabbing his items and picking up a room right next to Touko. The night slowly flew by as he tried to go to bed. He really didn't have anything bothering him but it was just the fact that they were looking for N. He still loved Touko but he was quite unsure of their current relationship. He thought he had ruined it from a few nights ago. He finally lost his train of thought and went into a world full of nothingness, a dream.

During the middle of the night, the storm had subsided but random shots of thunder woke up Touko. The smell of the sudden burning caught her attention though she didn't mind it. Instead, she started feeling next to her to see if anyone was there. To her despair, Cheren wasn't lying next to her. She rubbed her half-opened eyes to make sure she wasn't dreaming or anything. The sound of thunder shocked her once again, causing her to flinch this time. Immediately, she got up and dragged a blanket along with a pillow with her, looking for where Cheren was. Without a clue which room he could have been in, she went into the room directly in front of hers. It looked like him so she hopped in the bed next to him until she felt a slap hit her.

_Who is this?!_ she thought. _Hopefully this is the right room right? _Immediately, she turned around and noticed an awake Cilan lying next to her. Both of them screamed at the sight of each other though Touko hopped out of the bed and pointed at him in a disrespectful manner.

"What are you doing here?!" she yelled, holding the pillow tightly.

"This is my room; what are _you_ doing here?!"

"I-I thought this was Cheren's room!"

"What's wrong with your eyes?!"

"SHHHH, we're going to wake everyone up and it was an accident, okay?!" Touko sighed heavily.

Before she was going to walk out, Cilan got out of his comfortable position and grabbed her by the arm. Something was bothering her and he could tell. Nothing seemed right about how she was acting ever since they came here.

"Something the matter?" he asked, turning her around as he grabbed her shoulders. "You look stressed if you're hopping in bed with someone that looks nothing like Cheren."

"I wonder what N is thinking about right now. I want to hurt him so bad for what he said that other night he was here…"

"Well, come with me and we can talk about it," he mumbled.

Cilan looked down as he pulled Touko's hand. She was surprised but she didn't say a single word. All was heard was the faint breathing of them walking. He led her outside where it was oddly not that wet. He approached a long ladder that reached to the top of the two story house. He signaled for her to climb up and so she did. He followed suit as she made herself comfortable. The rooftop wasn't slippery either. It seemed as if the rain never hit land when they were there though the sound of the rain was there with clarity.

Touko bit her lip as she looked up at the sky. The stars were out and for some odd reason, the thunder seemed to disappear without a trace which bothered her a bit. She hoped that she wouldn't get knocked off of the roof due to her fear of heights. Cilan smiled as he looked up at the crescent moon. The cold moonlight hit them both softly, creating a pale effect on their skin. It seemed as if they were put on the spotlight for whatever reason it was. Silence filled their atmosphere as they continued to look up at the sky. The silence made Touko feel slightly awkward so she broke in with a bit of conversation.

"Wasn't there a storm before we came out here?"

"I was thinking the same thing… but I knew that you wanted to come out here."

Touko's eyes became glossy as she turned to Cilan who was too busy being amazed by the night sky. He had also wanted to come outside; star gazing was exactly what he loved to do before he fell asleep. Oddly, he wasn't sleeping when Touko walked in but she didn't know it. Her ears were still amazed at what she heard.

"But how did you know? Was it _that_ obvious?"

"I took a guess! I'm a detective remember?" he chuckled faintly as he looked over to Touko.

Touko smiled as she continued looking back up. "I like looking at the night sky because it seems like it's the only real thing that's here. Even though it's so distant I can feel it like it's in front of me. It's cold just like me."

"You're silly, Touko. You're not cold, you're warm just like the rest of us."

"I think Cheren's the warmest out of all of us then." She started to giggle as she rubbed her eyes.

"He's pretty nice to you, you know. Is he always like that to you?"

"Of course he is… I can't give him anything in return and I really want to change that, you know?"

"You can start saying thank you for a change!" Cilan laughed as he patted her on the back.

"But I already do that… Well, no I don't but I just want him to know I'm happy he's around. I love him a lot."

"You should tell him before he gives up on you."

Softly, Touko's tears started to drop from the sides of her face. The thought of Cheren being there all that time made her quite happy. The scenery made her filled with more emotion as she continued to take in the beautiful reflection of the moon on her flowing tears. Cilan moved closer to her and gave her a heartwarming hug. She started to cry as she latched onto him surely but slowly.

"I don't think he's happy about why I'm looking for N."

"Do you know why you are?"

"I want to hurt him and show him my angry woman rage!" Touko smiled as she stood up. "I think I'll go to bed now, thanks Cilan."

He waved and smiled at her as she turned around to walk down the ladder. A sudden crash of something startled her as she walked back to the side door. She noticed a flower pot fall over as she walked inside. Her thoughts started coming back to her again. She tried to look for Cheren's room once again and found it in the first room she checked. He looked knocked out as she started locating the walkway to the other side of the bed. The window remained open with the sound of crickets surrounding the outside world. She smiled at the very comforting atmosphere as she sat right beside the male. She noticed that his glasses were still on which made her worry a bit. With some hesitation, she removed them and placed them on the wooden, white nightstand next to the bed. Smiling, she moved in closer to examine his face.

"I love you but I won't tell you, ever," she mumbled. "Thank you for being here."

Her tiny hands moved his hair about his face as she continued to look at him. His breath was faint but she heard his heartbeat. She sighed and moved in closer, giving him a slight kiss on his lips. Her tears dripped on his face as she felt like he was kissing her back. Shocked, she pulled away from him to check if he was awake or not. When she was sure, she slowly moved over until she felt something on her arm. She felt his grip and it was as warm as could be.

"You can't just kiss me then go to bed, that's wrong," he whispered, pulling her closer to him. "I love you too."

Touko's stomach started to get to her as she became a bit faint. She didn't push him away but instead, encouraged him. She fell asleep as they cuddled together in the middle of the night. From the outside, Cilan overheard everything. He chuckled and continued to look at the moon whose shine was dancing gracefully with the wind through the entire night.

_I knew you could do it. _

.

For almost the entire night, N stayed up reading a book and signing paperwork for Ghetsis. He was quite tired but he didn't really feel like sleeping. He felt quite bored until he remembered the card that he picked up. He was startled by the fact that he had totally forgotten about it. As he pulled the card from his pocket, he heard a knock on his door.

"Come in," he called out.

The door opened up as Anthea walked in. It was quite odd that she didn't call from the phone or the intercom. She looked exhausted as it seemed like she was running around the place looking for him. The door lightly shut behind her as she made her way in. She sighed deeply before walking toward his desk.

"Something wrong?" he immediately questioned.

"Ghetsis has requested that you not leave the castle," she replied. "He said to take it as a threat _and _a warning. If I were you, I'd listen."

N shook his head as he rolled his chair toward the window behind him. "And if I don't?"

"I'm not allowed to say, N."

As she rose from her seat, N looked at the card in his hand. He started to examine it as she walked closer to his desk. On the front, it showed a picture of the exact same female with a name written on the bottom right hand corner.

"Anthea, who is this?" he asked, pointing the card in her direction.

"Ah! Where did you get your hands on that?"

"This woman dropped the card I'm assuming. I found it on the ground after I dismissed her from my presence."

"Well, that's the new Duchess I suppose I can say."

"We have a Duchess? When did this happen?" N shot up immediately and stood in front of Anthea.

"Ever since you left, he recruited new people. Of course you don't know but now Team Plasma has about five new higher ranked members. They are labeled according to their jobs. Touya is of course one and Annika is another."

"Of course he'd do that when I'm not around. He truly wants to see an explosion happen."

"I'm sorry that you had to know that. I'll be on my way now and you should head to bed, N."

Anthea turned around and walked away, not saying a single word. N was quite curious to know all the changes that Team Plasma had made while he was gone but he didn't want to delve deeper into it. He didn't want to affiliate with Team Plasma any longer and the thought of leaving was just the top priority. Again, he was going to feel like he was trapped in a prison as he was his entire life. He had wondered why he had to have his childhood taken away.

_I know he's planning something. _This very thought circulated his mind as he sat back in his chair. He continued to look at the card once more as he noticed it still wasn't with its rightful owner. It was quite too late to even call her in so he left the card on his desk as he continued to do work which eventually turned into a restless night.

.

The sun rose up as Touko woke up. Surprisingly, Cheren wasn't in bed. It scared her to know that he could have been lurking anywhere around her. He normally did that, especially in the morning. When she stood up, the first place she walked to was the bathroom after grabbing her toothbrush. She didn't notice anything strange about her until she looked in the mirror. Her hair was a bit fluffier than normal which shocked her greatly. As she kept looking, the shower curtain moved by itself, causing her to flinch. Of course, Cheren was in the bathroom before she noticed.

"I forgot to blow dry your hair again." He walked out of the shower as he tried to put on a towel.

"N-No, don't worry about it! It looks fine, don't worry!"

Her face turned bright red as she ran out of the bathroom, remembering a couple hours ago. The fact that Cheren was in the bathroom before her scared her even more. He simply passed by her and poked her in the nose.

"Your turn."

Touko had no idea what Cheren was referring to but she ignored it and went to go brush her teeth. All she could think about was what she did. She felt quite possessed by something but she didn't care. It felt nice to know that Cheren still felt the same way about her as she felt about him. It was wrong to use N for her personal gain but she didn't care, she was a selfish person underneath her tiny exterior.

When she was finished, she walked to the room and changed her clothing, smiling at her bag when she was all set. Cheren was right behind her when she did so but she never noticed.

"Boo."

"GAH! Don't do that!"

"Your reactions are just silly, Touko." Cheren simply pushed his glasses back as Touko stood up, bag in her hand.

"Why did you wake up earlier than me today?"

"Chili and Cress had to leave remember? Cilan and I watched them both go off," he replied.

"Oh… You should have woke me up then!"

"You were sleeping like a baby. Anyways, let's go on and head to Nimbasa, good enough?"

"Yeah, yeah, c'mon…"

Touko walked forward as Cheren latched onto her hand. She started to blush as she slapped him off of her. She glared at him and walked down the steps and outside. Ever since last night, they both had been acting different and it had been quite obvious all along. The fact that now Cilan knew about it made it even more thrilling.

The door was locked by Cheren after he finished grabbing his things. Cilan was ready outside as Touko started looking around with amazement. It seemed like the storm never came through even though the sounds and such made it realistic. She became lost in the scenery as Cheren gave her a pat on the back, startling her. Cilan intervened with important information though he laughed a bit.

"So, since we know our next destination, we should fly instead of walking. I think Touko would like that very much actually."

"You sure got that right!" Touko pouted and started to search for her Pokéball in her bag, "Go Braviary!" In a matter of seconds, the shimmering figure appeared from her Pokéball. The elegant flapping of graceful wings filled the air with a small breeze as the mighty Pokémon was prepared for his trainer to hop upon his back. "Whoever gets to Nimbasa the fastest wins, 'kay?!"

"Wait! You can't be serious, right?" Cilan asked diligently.

"She's serious…" Cheren replied. "We have our Xtransceivers so call us if anything."

Touko smiled as she hopped on Braviary's back, allowing her to be taken on a cruising air ride. The two males persistently called their Pokémon out and followed suit. Before they knew it, Touko was further along the way than they were. The overview of the region was simply amazing as she hadn't flown up this high in years. She was above the whipped clouds that covered most of the sky today. She was quite cold but her jacket was fine enough for her.


	8. Chapter 8

During the course of the flight, Touko thought much about her old journey through the Unova region when she was younger. The vast ocean that lay near her hometown and Undella, the big city that wasn't near her at all, huge landscaping like the five bridges; it was all so beautiful to her. Bustling Nimbasa City was close since she could see the huge buildings and the sparkling lights. Her memories started to spark as she sighed quietly. As her mind slowly became addicted to her mind, her grip on her bag suddenly let loose as it dropped down to the ground. She freaked out only noticing within rubbing her eyes. She continuously looked between her hand and the bag while it dropped as fast as a piano from the top of Black City's own Black Skyscraper.

"Gah, Braviary, stop and catch that bag!" she screamed, pointing to the ground below her. "I can't believe I did that!"

With direct orders from his trainer, Braviary shot down into the ground, locating for her bag. After a bit of descending, she dropped into the forest along with her trustworthy Pokémon. She was in somewhere that seemed like a forest. It startled her a bit but she had Braviary with her the entire time. She wanted to feel brave for once instead of always depending on someone or something even. She demanded that both she and the Pokémon split up as they look for the bag.

"This is wrong! How did I do that? Was I really _that_ caught up in my thoughts?!" Touko started to scold herself the more steps she took. "I'm such a clumsy idiot! Why did I even _decide_ to race like this?! I knew I was going to get into trouble somehow! UGH!" Completely, she started to have an argument with herself. "Why does everything bad have to happen to me, huh Touko?! Why do I have to be so in love with Cheren when I'm already looking for N! You know what you want, so don't bother me!"

Touko eventually got dizzy and confused. She started skipping, hopping and even walking incorrectly. She was too angry at herself to do anything right. She pulled out her Xtransceiver that was in her back pocket. She gladly sighed of relief when she found out she had it all along. Braviary would come back with the bag in no instant so she sat down in a bush near a quite grand tree. Her first move of action was to call Cheren and tell him the issue.

"So, I kind of dropped my bag and stuff so me and Braviary are looking for it and—"

"I knew I couldn't trust you alone." Cheren pushed his glasses back as he sighed quite heavily. "Alright, describe where you are."

"We're near Nimbasa but I don't know exactly where I am. I'm hiding in a bush near a big tre—"

"Don't worry; Detective Cilan is on his way with assistant Cheren!" All Touko saw was Cilan wink as he gave her a thumb up. "Hold on tight!"

The Xtransceiver hung up as she pouted. She didn't want to be alone. It was kind of her fault that Braviary went off anyway so she slouched against the tree, asking herself repeatedly why she was so clumsy. Time passed by a bit and it started to manipulate her mind more than it already did. A branch crackling broke the silence as she peeked through the small bush. She hadn't looked this way before so she took complete caution.

_I swear, I will scream if I see something here… _In a matter of seconds, Touko shot out of the bush and saw a tree which hadn't been there before, causing her to fall down a highly steep cliff that she had never noticed before. It seemed as if her mind was also being manipulated back in Lacunosa as she looked up at the night sky yesterday. The forest seemed smaller especially after she fell. She got so confused that her eyes started to close up and fade everything else while she sat there not moving.

.

Later, a man approached Touko as he continued to look at her. Her leg was covered in blood but she seemed as if she passed out since she wasn't freaking out from pain. As the man ranted and ranted, she woke up, only catching the last sentence of what he was saying.

"Touko, you should be more careful and stop being clumsy," the voice said, bending over to heal her wounds.

She looked up and noticed a fountain of green hair spewing from this male's head. The voice was so familiar that she didn't hesitate to get up though she was in pain. She ignored it as she started feeling on this mysterious person. It looked exactly like N but she couldn't believe her eyes. He continuously helped bandage her without being interrupted by her curiosity.

"N? Is that really you or am I dreaming?" She sat straight up as she felt a tingle from her wound, causing her to use her arms for immediate support.

"Idiot, just be more careful next time," he chuckled, patting her wound lightly after he finished. "You're not dreaming, just fall back asleep."

N stood up as he waved at her. Her jaw plopped open as he stopped, noticing she wasn't comfortable with how this conversation was ending. She stood up and tried to follow him but instead, she fell on her butt once again.

"So I get to see you again and you just disappear?!" Slowly, she started to cry as he turned around to comfort her. "You left without telling me the reason why!"

"Wasn't my reasoning on that paper enough?" he questioned, bending down to her once more. "I'm not who you think I am, Touko."

"What do you mean? Were you using me the whole time for Team Plasma's plan all along?"

"Find out yourself, stupid," he chuckled. "I'm leaving now, just don't hurt yourself anymore."

With surprise, he leaned over to give her a hug then gave her a pat on the head. Oddly enough, she started to get tired after looking at his smile. She was even more confused though she couldn't express it due to her passing out once more.

.

Anthea walked around N's office, dusting everything off and ignoring N as he was probably doing work. She did not ever try to make eye contact when he was doing business but she heard no movement after a couple of minutes cleaning the room and his desk. She stacked books around along with papers hoping it would wake him up but he still was sleeping like a little child. His innocence always took the best of him while he was sleeping. She remembered when he was younger as she continued staring at him. Without thinking, she walked over to his desk and checked on him, patting him until he woke up.

_I don't think Ghetsis would be proud if he was found sleeping here, _she thought. "N, are you sleeping or are you just dead?" Anthea shook him around constantly until he reacted. "Ah, there you go. You didn't sleep when I told you to, huh? It's evening. Also, where did the card disappear to?"

"I couldn't leave all this work to just pile on top of each other." Slowly but surely, he sat up straight but used his arm for support. "Also, I ordered Concordia to give the card back to its rightful owner."

"I suppose so but sleep is mandatory. I finished cleaning up your office and replaced your ink pens. Do you require anything else?"

N plopped back on the desk, "I need coffee or else my eyes will fall out. Thank you, Anthea."

"Of course, N." Anthea proceeded to move from behind his desk until he tugged on her gown.

"I had a dream that Touko fell from a cliff and I went to go help her." N sighed as he let go of her. "It felt real."

"Oh did it? Do you think she actually got hurt?" she asked, turning around with her hands connected. "It sounds really tragic."

"I hope she didn't. Her leg was gushing with blood and it felt like she was really in front of me." His hands slammed against the desk as she patted his back. "I think I feel something for this woman…"

"It's okay, N. She should be fine. You shouldn't think any more of her." Anthea walked off as she approached the door. "I'll be back with your coffee quite soon."

"I'm sorry Anthea," he softly uttered, spinning his chair toward the window. "I just truly think I did her wrong."

"No need to be sorry, Lord. You're just doing what you need to."

"Wait, hold on." N's hand shot up as she looked back one final time. "I have to confess."

"Wait, what my lord?" Anthea shockingly looked back as he looked at his desk.

"Touko is coming to get me. I don't want her to do it anymore but I can't just tell her obviously." He covered his face in his hands as she sighed at him with disappointment.

"I would have hoped that you would have examined the room before you said a single word." In a mere couple of seconds, two Team Plasma grunts along with Touya appeared. "I thought you were smarter than that or else you wouldn't be in as much trouble as you are right now."

Anthea let out a laughter filled with evil as the two grunts were ordered to carry N away. Touya smirked as he examined the male from head to toe. All along Touya wanted to foil N. The vibe he gave away the night of the meeting was enough to address him as a tyrant. He didn't want to help his father and in the long run, he caught him in the act.

"I knew you were on his side all along Anthea. This was all just too obvious." N did not deny his capture as he was carried away. "But what is my punishment? I am king."

"We're taking you to the lab. You won't dare escape."

Touya commanded them to drag him away as Anthea followed along. The door was shut completely as N's chair moved back. Surprisingly, N was hidden away underneath the desk. Touya instead took away his decoy which made N's plan succeed though he had to stay quiet in case he was caught.

"Good job Zoroark; you'll be fine, my friend."

.

Once again, Touko woke up. She dared not open her eyes because she thought it was a dream once more. She felt someone behind her as she continued to feel up their body and herself being covered by a sheet. She forced herself to open her eyes, looking at a sleeping Cheren. Her eyes widened as she covered her mouth from shock. The place did not look familiar at all and it was already dark in the evening. Braviary was also lying beside her along with Cilan. Her bag sat there right next to Cheren. Quickly, she tried to sit up but she felt a sharp pain in her leg which caused her to whine loudly. Cheren flinched as he slowly woke up. When he noticed her awake, he quickly grabbed her closer to him, restricting her from physical movement.

"Don't move Touko. You're still probably hurt," he quietly nagged. "Tell me what happened."

"What do you mean 'tell you what happened'?! How about you tell _me_ what happened!" Touko growled at him as he pushed his glasses back. "Where are we?!" _Seriously, this is all hurting my head…_

"We found you a while ago and you were all bandaged up while Braviary was protecting you in front of nothing you described to us. The clue was sitting right next to your feet too. You had me worried sick, loser." Cheren sighed and turned away from her. "We're in Lostlorn Forest right now."

"So it wasn't a dream…" she uttered, totally forgetting she was sitting next to the envious Cheren; even he didn't know what was going on but he could have easily tortured it out of her. She completely ignored the fact that they found a clue and tried to tell her side of the story. "Well I fell down a cliff and—"

"You fell down a cliff? There's not a single cliff around. Are you alright?" He quickly placed a hand on her forehead as she slapped him off immediately.

"But I remember falling down one, that's why I'm hurting right here!" she called out, trying to convince him. "Then N came and he bandaged me up so he—"

"You're just seeing things. This is a small forest and you should know that." Cheren leaned back against the tree trying to go back to sleep. "Good night."

"Why must you always interrupt me, Cheren?!" Her fists rose up as she continued to talk. "I didn't understand what he meant when he said 'I'm not who you think I am'…"

Suddenly, Cheren sat up to look at Touko one last time, "He said that to you?"

"MHM! He did!" She continuously nodded at him as she poked her lip. "I don't understand."

"Considering this forest is known for that one Zoroark that wonders around, maybe that's what he meant…"

"But how?! That's impossible!" Slowly, the troubled female leaned into Cheren's chest as he patted her head. "It just can't be… I felt him and it looked just like him."

"I'm afraid so. Just fall back asleep; I'll wake you up when it's time to go, alright?" He closed his eyes as he leaned back against the tree. "If you move, I'll hurt you more than that leg is hurting you and I promise you that."

.

It was in the middle of the night as Touko woke up once again. This time, everyone was awake including Braviary. She was leaning against the tree instead of Cheren. She looked up as they were reading the next clue.

"Wait, you guys found the clue?!" she questioned, sitting up.

"I told you yesterday that it was by your foot. You obviously were too busy thinking about N instead of what I was saying." Cheren chuckled as Touko tried to get up.

"Why you little—" Her leg was still in pain causing her to fall back on the ground.

"Don't worry, Touko; you don't have to worry about this one since you don't seem to like them," Cilan interrupted, throwing the key they had previously received. "Hold on to this because it might be crucial."

"Thanks, I guess," she softly said, looking up at Cheren. "So what's the plan?"

"If I'm right then there's only one place to go to next." Cheren pushed his glasses back in as the suspense was ready to murder them on the spot. "Liberty Garden."

Cilan crossed his arms as Touko looked at Cheren angrily. If that's where he was all along, why had he not just said it in the first place? She was quite angry at the fact she had hurt herself just to look for this man but even though she did see him and he walked off, it made her even more angry. She had to continue looking for him with herself injured.

"So are we going now? In the middle of the night?" Touko asked, standing up slowly. "I don't think I should be walking now…"

"You're going to ride on my back, that's why. No more flying allowed." Instantly, Cheren walked to her and picked her up.

"B-but, why?! I can walk…" Touko's face sported a scarlet colour as she tried to look away from him. "Nevermind I guess since you won't listen to me…"

"Exactly, just hold your bag and don't let go."

All three of them proceeded to walk after Touko called her Pokémon back in his ball. She was quite proud of it being able to handle such a task while she was too busy dozing off about other things. They eventually reached Nimbasa within ten minutes of walking. There was no stopping allowed since they had to hurry; they were getting close to N as they continued on.

As Touko was looking around, she started to think about her encounter with N in the amusement park. They walked past it rather quickly as they tried to go onto Route 4. She sighed deeply thinking about the nice view in the ferris wheel even though N had to spoil it by telling him he was king of Team Plasma. Still, she looked at it until they reached the gate checkpoint which lead them to the electronic like Route 4.

Cheren didn't seem tired at all along with Cilan who was basically navigating them through. She tried to keep silent during her 'ride' but she couldn't help complaining about how hungry she was. Until they got to Castelia, she started to hit Cheren, begging for him to drop her. He refused until they finally reached the ship for Liberty Garden.

"Alright, if you can at least calm down and try not to move a lot, I'll help you walk, deal?" Touko quickly nodded as he dropped her down. "Great, now let's go before sunrise hits us."

As they approached the ship, Cilan was leading. He felt an odd presence around them as his arm signaled for them to stop. As he looked around, he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

"Hmm, I just know there's something around that's not right," he mumbled, continuously looking around. "I'll just stay behind and patrol this area."

Both Touko and Cheren sadly departed without him as they were one of the few people who rode on the ship. Upon checking for an area to sit or stand, Cheren left Touko to sit in the ship rather than on the deck. She grew quite lonely until she saw a familiar face.

"Lance? What the heck are you doing here?" she questioned, pointing frantically at the male. "I thought you weren't coming back to Unova?"

"You ask too many questions." Lance laughed as he took a seat right next to her.

"Alright let me say hello formally. Hello, Mr. I have a dragon fetish!" Touko pouted and glared at him. "There's no dragons in Liberty Garden!"

"Who said I was looking for dragons? I'm here for Team Plasma!" He confidently smiled as Touko looked awkwardly at him.

"Uhhhh, aren't you from Kanto or something? Why would you have anything to do with Team Plasma?"

"BEEP. You're wrong. I'm from Johto. Still, I've been hearing that they're causing havoc amongst Hoenn and Sinnoh. "

"Then why isn't Steven or Cynthia here handling it for their regions!"

A voice shot from beside Lance. "Ahem, Steven here."

Touko flinched as she pointed frantically at him the same way she did to Lance, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! This is just too much for my mind! Is Cynthia gonna sneak up on me too?!"

"Actually no, I will." Touko turned to her right to see Lucian, fourth of the Sinnoh Elite Four. "Sorry that I had to do that."

This time, she tried not to flinch but instead, it made her flinch more. Cheren walked down the steps to find them all together. Surprised, he stroked his chin before he said a single word.

"So are we telling her about our alliance now?" he asked, crossing his arms. "It seems a little sudden but if we have to, I guess we can."

"An alliance?" Touko poked her cheek as she poked her bottom lip out. "How come you never told me Cheren?"

"Because it's a secret, Touko," Lance replied. "If we were to tell you, it would eventually slip out into the public and we would lose our Gym Leader, Elite Four or Champion status. It's something that's amongst all regions with high status of course."

"Then why isn't Red or Blue here?" she questioned immediately.

"Red is too busy training on a mountain and Blue is too busy terrorizing Red's Champion status." Lance tried his best to laugh but seriousness started to kick in as they heard a loud sound on the deck. "Hey, did you guys hear that?"

"Of course we all did!" Cheren replied.

Touko tried to stand up as the pain refrained her from doing so. Lucian closed his book as he ran up top first with Lance following along. Steven helped Touko up along with Cheren, each supporting each side of her.

"Say, how'd you get hurt Touko?" Steven asked. "That looks horrible."

"No time for explaining, let's hurry up onto the deck!"

They all ran up the steps but slow enough for her to catch up. As they continued along, there was an odd man who basically attempting to murder the captain of the ship. It was sailing smoothly even without the captain so they knew they would be fine and headed straight to Liberty Garden. This man didn't seem like an ordinary considering how he was dressed and such. The captain finally spotted the group as he ran behind them, saving himself from what could have happened.

"Hey, who in hell's name are you?!" Touko shouted, causing the man to turn around. "You just almost murdered someone innocent!"

"Oh, is that Touko? Touya's young and beautiful half-sister?" He turned completely around to uncover his mystery appearance.. "I am Jiro, Grand Duke of Team Plasma. I'm supposed to be delaying your arrival."

"Wait, wait, when did Team Plasma resort to killing people or at the very least, attempting?" questioned Lance. "I've never heard of a villainous group who did that to people!"

"They murdered my father." Cheren looked over at the man with an evil glare, implying he was going to do something drastic. "How about you do us a favour and jump off of the ship?"

"Or how about I do Ghetsis a favour and throw all five of you off of the ship, hm?" Jiro smirked as he snapped. A few grunts appeared from the highest part of the ship. "How about you guys exterminate these idiots before Ghetsis docks our pay?"

In an instant, Lance had already called out Salamence, Steven with Metagross, Lucian with Mr. Mime, Cheren with Serperior and Touko with Lucario.

"I think it'll be the other way around," Touko hinted. "Alright, let's go everyone!"

.

"You're lucky that I won't call anymore grunts on you guys or else you'd be swimming or rather, dead." Jiro laughed evilly as he jumped off of the ship, descending into the water.

"Wow and that was supposed to be a challenge?" Touko laughed as she slid on the ground.

"Apparently so, Touko. Team Plasma isn't anything but a bunch of fools. They try to act like a bunch of extreme villains but if you catch one who isn't in a group, they're nothing but pathetic human beings." Cheren was filled with anger as they approached Liberty Garden. "I suppose we should just go on and get what you were wanting the entire time, eh Touko?"

"But how are we supposed to approach the Garden? Isn't there going to be tight security around?" Lance asked. "I think we should split up so we can find a proper way to get it, don't you guys think?"

"Of course," Lucian replied. "It's uneven so it means either one of us will have to go alone or one group will have two people."

"Touko can't walk so she'll **have** to have someone to go with her." Steven intervened.

"B-but I can walk on my own!" Touko pouted as she started to limp around the deck. "See, I'm fine!"

"No, you're not fine. You're limping like crazy, woman." Cheren simply followed behind her every step. "I'll come with you."

"But I don't want to depend on you all the time. Believe me, just let me do my own thing alright?"

Touko slapped Cheren off of her as she proceeded to walk off of the boat. Lance quickly grabbed her before she took another step on the island as everyone followed along.

"Hold on, you can't just simply go off on your own until we say it's alright."

"Well, then where do we start?"

"I heard that the hideout is not on the main island."

"Where is the hideout…?" Cheren looked around the vast coastline. Even in the distance he didn't see a hideout. "Yeah, how do we proceed if we don't see anything?"

"Believe me, we'll eventually reach it. Let's just fly around with our Pokémon while we look for it. I'll take Touko along with me unless anyone objects to that?"

Immediately, Touko looked at Cheren as she stuck her tongue out at him. He looked away and smiled at her.

"Nah, you can have her," he said as he called out his Pokémon. "I don't think I want to deal with nagging when I'm trying to look around for the hideout."

"Alright then, let's start looking. Lucian will go north, I will go east, Cheren will go west and Steven will go west."

.

N sat completely still under the desk as the alarm continued to go off. It was the evacuation alarm as they feared Touko was coming. Jiro reported back to the castle in hopes they would leave. Knowing that two Champions, a Gym Leader, an Elite Four member, and the 'hero' were coming meant a lot of trouble.

_I am just so appalled by this. _Without a proper way to express his anger, he kicked his chair over until it hit the window, almost causing a crack. He covered his mouth since he feared of getting caught.

After sitting for a minute, he heard the door open with a smash. The sound of Ghetsis along with Touya was heard. He held his breath as much as possible so he didn't have to make noise.

"Heh, the fool actually finished all of this work for me too. I'm glad since we can finally take over Unova without him working along with us." Ghetsis walked over to N's desk and started to sort the paperwork. "So Touya, how does it feel like to be the new second-in-command for Team Plasma?"

"It feels great, Sage Ghetsis, simply great. Now we should hurry along before Touko and the others get to us. I don't think they stand a chance against our line of defense if they were to come by."

"Just make sure to keep the front door locked and lock every room that is necessary before we depart. If she knew about our plan, she'd try to stop Team Plasma once more and I will not let that happen."

Both Touya and Ghetsis dragged the papers out of the room but left the door open. N was scared that they were still around so he slowly stood up from where he was and looked around the room. There was no one to be seen. Relieved, he walked back to his room and took a nap from the restless night he had when Zoroark was taken.

Hearing that Touko was coming made him highly relieved and he didn't worry much. The only thing that bothered him was when Touya addressed the 'line of defense'. It could have possibly meant a high ranked Plasma member was leading a bunch of grunts outside of the castle. Perhaps there were still some secrets lurking the castle. With this in mind, he decided to check his father's room which always was at the bottom of the castle.

Quickly, he ran down the steps and ended up on the first floor. The entire castle was quiet and there was not a single sound of anyone in it. At least he thought there wasn't. He peered through the window and noticed Team Plasma covering all sides of the island he was currently standing on. He was worried that Touko wouldn't be able to get through alone unless there was enough people able to distract for her to come in. Along with that, she'd have to find a way to break open the door since it was lock shut and attempting to open it would most likely set the alarm.

His first action was to hurry and look for Ghetsis' room. With a little bit of searching, he found it laying past the meeting room. The door was left open but he slipped in and shut it behind him. Not realizing what would happen, the door completely locked behind him as he ran to a file cabinet containing all of the files that were necessary to bring Team Plasma at the top of Unova. He started to sort the papers as he stuffed them into an extra folder that was found on the desk

.

"I think that's it?! Isn't it, Lance?" Touko continued to point at an unknown mass of land with a large structure built upon it. "It has to be it, it looks almost like the castle from ten years ago!"

"It must be then!" Amazed, Lance pulled out his Xtransceiver and contacted everyone to return back to the starting spot and head east. He also called an unknown person which Touko wondered about. They kept heading the direction until they noticed Team Plasma securing the entrances that were only on ground. "Alright, we're ready to attempt an air assault."

"Wait, what?!" Touko was surprised at hearing such a term. "We're not the Poké Air Force! What are we doing?"

"I'm planning that we all try and fight off Team Plasma while you go in alone in the castle. Apparently, Team Plasma has evacuated and left only the front, sides, and back secure with more than about a hundred of them."

"Wait, I'm going in alone?! Why do I have to go alone!?" Her arms started to raise up from the tension building in her mind. "Certainly you have to be a freak to think I can go somewhere alone!"

"You'll be fine, I'll promise you that. Just go grab whatever you can find in there or more formally, whatever you're looking for." Lance quickly ordered Dragonite to stay still as he sighed heavily. "We're just going to wait here until everyone arrives. You're going to have to do your best and watch your step when you're alone, got it?"

Touko started to shake hearing the word 'alone'. It was horrible enough that she was hurt but going alone too? It wasn't the best idea, especially since her leg was making her so limpy. She could have easily fallen and no one could be in there to help her. Eventually, she'd have to snap out of it and act like the real woman she was. The fact that Team Plasma evacuated could have also meant that N wasn't in there so there would have been no reason for her to go in alone. Still, she wanted to try and look for him.

"If you say so…" she softly replied. "I'm ready when you are."

"I guess you would say I'm already ready since everyone's all here." Confidently, Lance pointed behind him as Touko noticed everyone was already here. "So listen to me everyone, we will split up on sides. Clair is already here so—"

Touko interrupted with curiosity, "Who's Clair? She doesn't sound familiar at all…"

"She's part of the alliance and she's also my cousin," Lance replied. "She's been waiting for the alert to go so let's hurry before she gets a bit angry. She's also the one who's been keeping a close eye on Team Plasma which is why I told you they've evacuated. Anyways, Clair is ready so as soon as we get there, Lucian, you will lead Touko into the castle through the front while Clair and I will try to knock them out of the way. Cheren will take the right side and Steven will take the left and try to hold them off until Clair and I are finished with the front."

Without a single reply, everyone silently agreed except Touko, who was having second thoughts about N being in the castle along with other people that could have possibly been in it. She couldn't reject since they were just about to be over the castle. Within a second, Lance carried Touko as they dropped from the air suddenly.

"WHY ARE WE FALLING LIKE THIS?!" she screamed, gripping the life out of his shoulders. "We didn't have to do this you know!"

"Safety precautions and so we don't die," he replied, lighting the grip by rubbing down on her hands. "Believe me, we'll be okay. Why are you so tense Touko?"

"SAFETY PRECAUTIONS? YOU'RE CRAZY?" She hung on tighter though she basically attacked his chest. "Drop me and I'll kill you!"

And right when she started to freak out, Lance immediately hit the ground feet first, Touko still in his arms. She was quite amazed as he stood her up. The others lightly descended into the ground as well. They had fallen right into enemy territory without a single care in the world. All eyes locked on them as the Plasma Pokémon were ready to attack along with loaded guns. Jiro walked toward the group as he ordered all guns to be faced down.

This surely scared the hell out of Touko. She didn't know what was going on but she had to do what she needed to. She was quite scared and felt a bit out of the loop all because she wasn't truly a part of this plan they had going on.

"Well looks like you _all_ are surrounded, no?" Jiro lightly licked his lips as his arms went up on command. "Well that's too bad, I'm going to eliminate of that girl you have."

"I don't think you can have me so easily!" Touko yelled, pulling a Pokéball from her bag that was already prepared for battle. "Go Reshiram!"

The whitest living thing ever appeared in thin air. It's wings spread open to create the thinnest, lightest gust of all. Its beauty distracted everyone as Touko and Lucian simply disappeared into the air and teleported to the door of the castle. Touko gave a tiny wink at Lucian before he gave a smile back. Gallade had teleported them mysteriously without a single trace of action.

Quickly, Touko broke open the door with a strong arm as she heard havoc wreaking outside. All that could be heard really was Lance's crazy screaming, Cheren's evil grunting and Jiro's insane laughter. It was all just too silly for her though she had to get serious and look around.

The main foyer was completely quiet and Touko wanted to keep it that way. Her limping was going along steadily until she realized how big the castle was. With a quick facepalm, she walked to the left and decided to walk into the 'important looking room'.

During the proceeding, she heard knocks and crashes in a room in this 'important room'. She felt quite stupid when she found out it was a Plasma meeting room. Another door led to a long hallway that led to an even bigger room though this door seemed quite suspicious.

_I wonder where I'm going though I can't help but to look at that door. _She limped all the way down the hallway as a loud crash hit huge, clear window that lined the hallway with sunlight. Touko, startled, hurried and smashed herself against the door. She desperately tried to open it until she realized it was locked shut.

"No, no, no!" Touko continued to smash the door in. "Open up, please!"

She truly wanted to know what was hiding behind it. Who was there? N. He was scared and refused to open the door which bothered him. All he heard was attacks to the door as Touko continued to find a way to get in.

.

I'm quite glad I finished this chapter earlier than expected. Looks like I got my inspiration back again~ Well, thank you all to the readers that actually like my story. If you guys weren't reading, I wouldn't keep going. Onto Chapter 9!


	9. Chapter 9

"How could this be happening right now?!" Touko screeched, tackling the door repeatedly until her bag fell. "Wow, look at me being clumsy as hell again!"

She bent over to grab her bag as the eerie sound of metal surrounded the room. It startled her very much but she reached over to find that she had a key all along. She remembered that the key would eventually come in handy or so Cilan made it seem.

_If I tried to open this with the key… I don't think it'll work but it doesn't hurt to try._ Touko continuously contemplated on what to do in her mind but it was the only thing the she could do. Without another moment to spare, she furiously pushed the key into the knob and started to shake even more. On N's side, he thought someone was trying to break in or someone had already discovered that his Zoroark was just a decoy.

The sound of battle was outside of the castle walls and no longer felt foreign to Touko as the door slipped open, revealing N pressed against the window.

"N, you fucking bastard!" she yelled while running to him, throwing attacks such as kicks, punches and even throwing items from her bag. Who even knew she had the power to stop limping all along! She immediately fell onto him as he pushed her away. "I'm going to strangle you!"

"Oh, not so fast you Gigalith. I'm trying to be sneaky here; if you blow my cover, I'm going down and you're coming with me." N started to dodge and block Touko's hits as he continued to read the files. "Get out before you cause a scene."

"Well, if you haven't noticed, there's already a scene going on outside! I thought you were just camping out by that window!"

"Yeah, so what?" N was jokingly annoying her until she started taking it seriously. "I'm trying to collect some documents if you couldn't see here. Get out."

_I really didn't want to do this_, she thought, _but…_ Without a hint or even a single word, Touko's arm rose up and gave a heavy, painful slap to his face. "That's what you get for being such a dick!"

"Keep nagging me and we'll end up dead if I don't hurry and read these papers." N quickly brushed his face with his hand as he continued scanning the documents. "Besides, why did you even come when I told you to?"

"Because I really wanted to beat you up for not bringing me inside before you left!" she sniffed. "I was out freezing and you left without even thinking about what you were doing…"

"Really? That's it? Well, I knew what I was doing, I just didn't want to wake you up. That isn't even a good reason for why you're here so tell me again, what are you doing here?"

"Instead of asking me questions, how about you tell me why you're still part of Team Plasma, eh? I ought to take Reshiram and give you another Fusion Flare in the ass!" Touko continued to growl at N who continued to read the documents. It bothered her because it seemed like he didn't care about her at the moment. "And would you stop reading those pa—"

"Son of a Stoutland!" he yelled to the top of his lungs. "Team Plasma has affiliation with Team Galactic in Sinnoh?"

"I said put the papers down!" Touko quickly snatched the papers from his hand as she slapped them on the desk that was laying there. "What are you still doing with Team Plasma?"

"Wasn't it obvious from the beginning? Remember that the reason why you're standing before me without fear is because Ghetsis told me that we had to become friends. It was a distraction so we can create our plan further but once more."

"That's stupid! Why would you agree to help him once again after he made fun of you in front of me?" she asked as she turned away from his unworthy appearance or so she thought. "You really _are_ pathetic aren't you?"

"Ouch, that felt like another slap to the face," he mumbled, rubbing his cheek again as if he really did get another slap. "You should stop being such a tense person, you know."

"Ack." Touko was laughing mentally as she always was called 'tense' or 'quick tempered. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that… I'm just angry at you right now."

"Don't worry," he replied, solely giving her a small smile. "Well, I have my reasoning but now I'd like to go against him. The things he suggested just disgusted me and I want to put an end to Team Plasma."

"You can't really do that when there is an entire team against you. Besides, why did Team Plasma evacuate? This isn't something I would deem normal…"

"I made Zoroark create an illusion so you could get here safely. Apparently, that kind of backfired a bit since there are people guarding the castle right?"

"But why did you want me to come here in the first place?" _I'm still wondering about that_, she thought, contemplating on the things she could have asked all in that little moment they had together.

"Hold that thought," he simply said, glaring from the window. He dragged her toward him as his back faced the window. "Come closer."

Touko's face was drowning in red as she didn't question what he was doing. Just as she thought when something was about to happen, it did. A stream of light shot through the window as it struck N in the back, causing him to quiver a bit. His arms held Touko as he tried not to let her get hit. The beam didn't seem to harm him much as he still stood straight up though he was struggling a bit.

"Are you okay?" he asked, pretending as if nothing had happened. Touko forced herself out of his arms and turned around, worried about his back.

"Are you retarded or something? You just got hit in the back with a solar beam!" She quickly twirled the young man around to notice that his shirt was torn and his back seemed a bit bruised from the attack. "Don't _ever_ protect me like that again!" _It was quite sweet that you did that though_, she creepily thought.

"I'm stronger than you are so don't worry, I'll be fine. Let's just get these stacks of paper out of here before Ghetsis and Touya come to take the rest of them back."

"But your back! These papers don't even mean anything compared to your back you know! Are you just going to sit here and pretend like it didn't happen? " Once again, she slapped the man in the face but then came to the realization that he was already hurt. _Damn it Touko, why do you keep hurting him, he's already in pain from protecting your sorry behind! _"Errr, sorry, that was a reflex!"

_As if __**that**__ was a reflex_, he thought. "No, don't worry about it…" Just at that moment, he noticed that her leg was bandaged up when she slowly limped away from him. "Wait, when did that happen to your leg?" _It can't be!_

"Oh yeah! You saved me when I fell from that cliff in Lostlorn Forest but you walked away like nothing happened!" Touko's arm raised up to give him another harsh slap until he stopped her in the motion.

"I did? I only had a dream about that when I was napping yesterday."

"But you hugged me and I felt it… I thought it was you who saved me. It had to be you, right?"

"I don't know, I can't really think of it anymore. Just…" He cut himself off as the silence just got plain awkward. "Just hurry up and help me with these papers. We're going to have to go back home after this or else they'll come back and take me."

Home? He really said it. Home. This made Touko feel a bit nervous that N truly thought of Touko's villa as home. She didn't know why but it wasn't the time to question him at that moment. Instead, she scurried around to get different papers that looked important. They tried to empty out the entire room as the rest of Team Plasma was clearing off of the island and out into the vast waters. Both of them heard running toward the room's direction as they finally finished the last bit of cleaning.

"What's going on in here?" Cheren asked, scrambling around the unknown room. "This room looks amazing…"

While Cheren started to scan the bookshelf, Lance walked in along with Clair as they glared at pictures on the wall. Both were amazed at such graphic pictures of the legendary dragon, Kyurem. Steven and Lucian wondered about in the room though they ended up going along with Cheren and examined the books.

"Guys, let's get out of here before Team Plasma comes!" Touko shouted, finishing up the last of clearing the room out. "We don't have time to be creeping through whoever's room this is!"

"It's Ghetsis' office."

"Shut up N, you're not helping out now." Touko basically growled at N while Lance started to glisten with fascination.

"This dragon… Any of you know what this is?" he asked, pointing the picture down with its magnificent features. "It's Kyurem if I'm right. I think it exists…"

"Of course it does, it has to!" Touko replied, basically lashing at the man as if he even did anything. "I didn't think Reshiram or Kyurem existed but they did!"

"Considering the fact that he has books on rocks, dragons and legends, this guy is going to try and go for him no matter what, am I right?" Steven blurted out, continuing to stare at the books' titles. "It's no wonder that Team Plasma still exists."

"Then take the books; they must be important anyway," N implied. "We must get going now. I have to grab my Pokéballs upstairs."

When N turned around, everyone caught attention to his back. Touko simply glared at everyone when they noticed that he had simply 'shook it off' and pretended it wasn't there. Cheren dropped the book in his hand as his jaw flew open.

"What the hell is wrong with your back?!" he yelled, pointing as he tried to push his jaw back up. "How the hell are you walking like nothing happened?"

"That's what I said!" Touko called out, merely just shaking her head in confusion.

"I was protecting Touko from a solar beam or so it was…"

"Hey, you didn't have to do it! I was probably strong enough to take it on my own if it hit me!"

"Yeah, yeah," N annoying replied, waving his hand at her. "I'll be back then we can leave, just get everything ready in the front before they all come back."

"Alright then…" Touko softly replied. Everyone took everything out as they all got ready to depart back to Undella. Without a single alert, there was still a Team Plasma member behind in surveillance though this member tried not to break their cover. They didn't try to cause more problems with Touko and the others as they allowed the rest of them to leave though they had no idea where Touko was leaving to.

.

Everyone arrived back at Touko's villa late in the afternoon. N, along with Steven and Lance helped carry every single document as Clair waved, flying back to her hotel in Castelia as Lucian waved to fly back to Sinnoh. Cheren ended up carrying a sleeping Touko after her lack of sleep and energy finally forced rest on her. He called Reshiram back for her as they all entered the room. The men dragged everything, along with Touko, into her room and tucked her in for her nap. Steven departed as the other three males said their goodbyes for the time being. They then scattered all of the papers, books and pictures on a table while Cheren rushed around the kitchen to bring tea and such. N rushed to his room to change his shirt and returned looking good as new. Lance got everything prepared for an hour of antagonizing examination.

"So, why did you bring all of these papers for us to read, N?" Lance asked immediately. "There has to be something you're planning if you're allowing us to read them all."

"No comment."

"I'll take that as an 'I'm still working with Team Plasma and I refuse to let Lance and everyone else know that I still am or else they'll ruin the plan we have going successfully.'"

N sighed, giving a serious answer instead of avoiding his question, "I knew all along that they would have something hiding before they left so I decided to bring them along before they take them back from the castle. It's important that you listen to what I have to explain after reading a bit of this. Without proof from the enemy, there is no belief, correct?"

Lance shrugged his shoulders, "I guess you're right. Do you think it's right for Touko to not know about any of this? Besides, she's kind of a big part of this if I'm right."

"I'll tell her when you both leave."

"Oh, I'm not leaving." Cheren popped in on the both of them with a tray full of tea and cookies. "Here, I'm finished."

"Cookies? Cheren, we're men, not little girls." Lance laughed as N was quite confused. "I can't believe you bake also, that's not very manly…"

"Hey, something to get our minds off of this Plasma crap is nice right? Take it or leave it, Lance." Cheren laughed as he placed the tray on the small table in front of them.

"Concordia and Anthea always baked me cookies since I got back…"

"That's pretty weird, N. Anyways, let us get down to business, shall we?" Cheren flipped a book open as N brushed the unfamiliar comment out of the way. "So, why didn't you evacuate with Team Plasma when they did?"

"Let's just say that I did. Zoroark volunteered to cover me while I allowed Touko to enter in the island freely without trouble," he replied. "Oddly enough, you all came in a group to accompany her. If you hadn't, she would have possibly been defeated or even taken captive."

"Doesn't that mean you're helping us now?" Cheren dropped the book facedown as he took a sip of his tea. _Something tells me not to trust this guy. _

"It's not as easy as you think. I can't exactly try and go against them alone. They're trying to take over another region as far as I know." N raised up a paper as he started skimming around. "See, this paper clearly explains that they're trying to take over Sinnoh and Hoenn and create an alliance with Team Galactic, which the already have apparently, Team Magma and Team Aqua. After that, they'll have the most power in the entire world."

"Why do they keep going?" Lance questioned. "It almost seems like they have another trick up their sleeve here in Unova."

"Of course," N replied, now reading the paper he still had in his hand. "Well, like Steven said before, Ghetsis is going to try and catch Kyurem to freeze Unova apparently."

Both Cheren and Lance dropped their books and replied, "What?"

"Yeah."

"How do you know this, N?" Lance hesitatingly replied. He was quite shocked and surprise by how N could act so calmly to the situation. The atmosphere turned mainly tense and suspense. "Is there something you're not telling us?"

"Of course."

"Then why don't you spit it out?! We're dying here!"

"I don't know, I just think it's funny how you both are trying to choke the answer out of me." N finally cracked up with laughter until he cleared his throat, demanding seriousness. "Well, I had a meeting some days ago and me, along with the high ranking Plasma members and the seven sages decided that if we froze Unova, we would be able to claim Unova as ours. I started to have second thoughts about the plan but I just decided it wouldn't hurt as long as I knew Touko had the will to fight us off."

"Who's side are you on then?" Cheren asked, finishing up the book he was reading. "You're confusing the hell out of us…"

"Not on theirs. I don't want anything to do with Ghetsis."

"Then we have to stop them before they do anything irrational. We can't just attack without a plan, especially if we're going with the same amount of people we had today." Lance finally touched his tea so it didn't go to waste.

"Should we contact the rest of them?" Cheren suggested. "You know…"

"Just don't worry too much about it. Rest up for the next couple of weeks so we can think of something. If we jump the gun then we're basically asking for trouble. On the other hand, I'll get going now so I can think of that plan."

Cheren and N waved as they continued their reading. Moments later, Cheren had already gone through a couple of books as N went through one sorted stack of papers. They both still had nothing in mind as they continued going on.

"I still can't believe you knew this all was going to happen but you still agreed to it…" Cheren muttered, simply pushing his glasses back and flipping pages in a book. "I was right all along."

"You know, I wonder why Touko likes you. You're just one odd, cocky person, aren't you?"

"Yeah, yeah, tone it down, freak."

Immediately, the doorbell rung as it interrupted their small dispute. Cheren, of course the one who was the host in this situation stood up and walked out of the room for a bit. To his surprise, Bianca was at the door expecting Touko to answer. After a couple of minutes of conversing, Cheren basically dragged the blonde woman up the staircase to witness what the males along with Touko had gone through before sunrise. She gawked noticing N once again.

"Y-you! Where did you go to! You had Touko worried sick apparently!"

"Oh, I was trying to take over Unova." N sarcastically said while he turned back to do some work. "Calm down woman, you're just as worse as Touko when she's sleep deprived."

"Yeah, yeah, green haired freak!" Bianca took a seat next to Cheren, curiously looking around at everything scattered on the desk then looking straight at Cheren. "What's all of this that's going on?"

"Long story short, Team Plasma is planning something and we have to do something about it. N told us some things and here are documents we got when we basically 'raided' the castle."

"So much for privacy," Bianca giggled. "How is Touko doing?"

Cheren simply pointed to the oversized bed in the corner. Bianca, curious, looked back and saw a small figure laying underneath the covers. She was hidden quite well like a Cleffa in a haystack. Touko seemed to be doing well though knowing Bianca, being the concerned person she was, she lightly placed her tiny hand over Touko's forehead, revealing that she was burning just by the slightest touch. The guys were all just scanning either paper, books or pictures until Cheren received a pillow to the head.

"Cheren you idiot! Touko is sick!" Bianca simply burst into flames which caught the attention of both males. N looked over at Touko's bed while Cheren abruptly dropped his book.

"Oh, is she? Allow me to take care of her like I always do." Cheren got up until N's arm blocked his way, allowing him to attempt standing up.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it—" A shock of pain caused N to lose consciousness.

"Wow, so this guy wants to take care of Touko when he can't even take care of himself?" Cheren sighed and pushed his glasses back. "Bianca, strip his shirt off."

"B-but why?" Her eyes filled with disgust as she flinched up a bit. "That's so gross! It's N for god's sake!"

"Just do it before I shove this book somewhere it doesn't belong."

"You owe me for this!"

Immediately, she tried to lift up N who was obviously quite heavier than expected but that's what someone would expect from a tall, strong person. Bianca pulled his shirt off as she was facing toward his back. She started to glare at Cheren while he glared back at her, giving her a tingling sensation down her spine. She glared at N's back and was amazed at what she had seen. No, not the huge bruise on his back but the way his back was smooth and such. Cheren came up behind her and smacked her in the head with a book, as he lifted N up.

"Are you stupid? He has a massive bruise and you're gawking at his back?" N was gently placed face down on Touko's bed as Cheren just shook his head. Suddenly, Touko woke up to the sound of endless screaming, slamming and hell breaking lose.

"Um…" Touko glared to the other side of her bed and noticed how big N's bruise was. "Gah, how can you guys just let him function like this!" Everyone just stared at Touko but didn't mind a single word she had stated. This actually pissed her off. "You guys are useless! How long have I been sleeping?!" She sat up and glared at the clock.

"Like three hours or so but now you're sick so you should stay in bed, idiot." Cheren came over to her bed, used a single finger and pushed the woman's forehead back with enough force for her to fall back in bed. "I'll take care of it."

"No, I will because you're always so picky about doing things for other people."

_It's payback for the time I got a cut on my wrist anyway…_ Touko quickly hopped out of bed and proceeded to walk to the bathroom. She came out with a first aid kit. "If it weren't for me waking up, you wouldn't have done anything for him, you know that?"

"I think it's safe to say that you're right." Cheren chuckled as he continued reading. "Anyways, you're missing out on this important conversation."

"Well, what's going on now?" Touko's tiny hands tried to wrap bandages around N's back after she basically soaked his back with alcohol. It was quite silly how she didn't know how to do much of the things everyone else did.

"We're going to plan a way to stop Team Plasma from catching Kyurem."

"K-Kyurem?" she question reluctantly. "You can't be serious unless we actually know where he is."

"Yeah, we'll figure that out somehow… And what the hell are you doing Touko?"

"I'm trying to help N out right now if you can't see that." She stuck a lone tongue out at him and pulled down her cheek as Bianca started to laugh a bit. "Just continue reading whatever."

"Heh, at least I know how to do things properly in this house."

"Shut up! No one asked you!" Touko flipped N around as she competed tying the bandages tight around N's mid-section. "You always have something ignorant to say, y'know?!"

"You two are silly as always~" Bianca interrupted. She started to remember the days when they were pursuing their journey. Cheren would always tease and put the two females down but it was the only way he showed his love for the both of them. She had never once saw him get emotional but Touko did. Of course she did.

"Yeah, yeah, what are you even doing here?" Cheren gave evil looks to Bianca as she slid on the ground. "Should you be busy with Juniper?"

"Wow! And you don't even have the decency to label people formally!" Touko blurted, quickly covering her mouth after doing so. She merely mumbled an "Oops." before sliding back under her warm sanctuary under covers.

"I just came here to stay with Touko for the rest of winter. I won't be going to Sinnoh until spring so I'll be spending time with her!"

"Really? I'm glad actually but since N is back, he'll be staying here still…"

Bianca poked her cheek and stared at Touko's bed contently, "Oh, I don't mind at all! I'll just keep out of his business for the entire time I'm here."

"And when it comes down to that, I'm going to be staying here too." Cheren smiled while Touko shot out of the covers. "As long as N is here, I'll take my residence right next to your room."

Touko's mouth flew open while she turned to stone. The thought of her childhood friends living with her for a while seemed quite excruciating. Endless fighting between Cheren, Bianca and N. Constant arguments between Cheren and N over things about Touko. She could just feel it. No. She could just sense it almost. It was something she was highly against but some company truly didn't hurt anyone in this situation. Instead, she unfroze and shrugged simply saying, "Alright, alright then."

Cheren took off his glasses and cleaned them as he gave a heavy sigh, "Well? What are we going to do now, just sit here and do nothing?"

"I know what I'm doing: taking a nap." Touko gave an owl like stare at Cheren before she finally settled back into her bed, sinking into the warm yet cool feeling bed. She threw blankets over N so he wouldn't be cold as they woke up. "Ohhhhh, good night or something like that…"

"Looks like I'll be heading to my room too," Bianca replied, giving out a cough as she took one of the cookies from the table and stood up, walking right out of the door. "Remember, baking is for girls Cheren!"

"I'll teach you people not to disrespect my baking!" The young male shot up and sprung right out of the door to his room. Silence finally filled the entire villa as everyone turned out to be taken to a dream land.

.

Touko woke up once again though it was to the sound of the world that was flying through the glass doors from the veranda. She realized that the doors weren't open before she fell asleep so she assumed it was N's doing.

She peered right next to her over the other side of the bed and noticed that he wasn't even sitting there. Without a doubt, he had to be outside. She hopped right out of her bed and slipped on the papers the men left lying around.

"Damn, I have to clean this up later," she muttered, dragging her blanket along while she crawled outside. "It's so cold today too, I wonder why he left the door open…"

The small woman looked up at the sky and noticed its clarity, something that hadn't been visible in a while. The moon wasn't even visible today either so she shrugged, got into a sitting position and looked on the veranda. Surprisingly, Cheren was knocked out in the chair. He looked cold according to how Touko saw him so she felt a bit bad and walked toward the chair. The first thing she did was contemplate on giving the blanket to him or keeping it.

_Um, I'm pretty cold too. Maybe I should just poke him to wake him up or something? Maybe I should just go cuddle with him because I'm cold and I don't want to go back inside. Actually no! I'm being quite selfish right now. Dear goodness, what do I do?! _Touko started getting confused while she gripped both sides of her head. "Alright, I'll just throw the blanket on him and I'll be okay…"

It wasn't as simple as she thought. She simply just walked over and decided to cover him with the blanket but instead, her foot, which was ignorantly placed over it caused her to trip and fall onto Cheren. The blanket cleverly fell right over them. Surprisingly, it didn't wake him up which made her get worried.

_Wait, what if he's dead?_ She poked her cheek then realized how stupid she sounded in her own mind. Touko didn't even realize where she was until Cheren started to move around a bit. He woke up to the sound of her heavy breathing while she covered her face in his chest.

"Trying to sneak another kiss on me again, aren't you?" Touko tried to roll off of him but instead, he sneezed, causing her to flip off onto the veranda with her bottom. "You're really cute, you know?"

"I was trying to throw you the blanket on you because you looked cold…"

"Don't worry… I wanted to check up on you since you were sick but then I ended up laying here. There was nothing in the sky to look at so I guess I fell asleep."

"Of course not! It's winter right now of course. Now come on, you're gonna get sick. Like— _achoo!_" Touko sneezed quietly then rubbed her nose. Cheren looked down at her while she pulled his wrist. "Hurry, I'm getting even more sick just sitting out here!"

"We're both sick already. It wouldn't matter if we went inside, right?"

"Yeah, of course not but we don't want to get more sick."

"So what? Here, come lay on me some more to get your mind back in shape."

"W-whoa, what the hell are you talking about? Are you drunk or something?" Touko's face started to turn a light pink though the night sky couldn't help her hide it.

"No, I was kidding. You should go back inside because I know your leg is still hurting, right?"

"I think you should go since you're the one who's wearing boxers in the middle of probably ten degree weather."

"Pfft, says the one who's strolling out here with just a tank and some panties."

Touko started to flush, covering her mouth, "S-So what!? What's your reasoning coming out here half naked?"

"The cold… it's like an adrenaline rush; very exhilarating," he uttered, laughing endlessly while Touko was still on the ground trying to make of what was happening in front of her.

"You're an idiot," Touko stressed. Her small hand carefully tugged on the male's bigger hand. "Let's _both_ go inside before we start coughing and crap."

"Right after you, Touko."

Both quickly stood up though Touko had a bit of a problem. She remembered her leg was still hurting a bit so she didn't bother rushing back to her room. Cheren followed behind her as she took her sweet, sweet time. It was quite evident that Touko didn't want to be alone so she took whatever time she spent on walking to her bed very carefully. He knew it of course so he didn't hesitate to accept the offer after he shut the glass doors and threw the curtains completely over it. The room was as dark as dark could ever be. Cheren could tell his way around the room as surprisingly, Touko could not. She tripped over something which startled the male.

"Come on, you can't even memorize the way to your bed without tripping over something? I don't even have glasses on but you don't see me tripping over the floor."

"H-hey! Don't you think you're coming off a bit mean about that?"

"Yeah, yeah, shut up and get off of the floor. You're just so clumsy…"

Touko couldn't bear to listen to him anymore and that is exactly when Cheren tumbled down on the ground. Touko pulled on his ankles while she giggled listening to the sound of him crash.

"See who's falling now?"

"It's because you did it!"

"I didn't do anything. You're just blind, remember?" The woman smashed a pillow in his face, basically initiating a pillow fight. "Hah, now you can't do anything as long as I have a pillow!"

"Oh? It's on Touko, it's so on."

"You're not going to win this time, I can bet on that!"

"Fine, loser has to do whatever the winner wants and that's final, got it?"

"Deal!"

Both of them started to have a play fight on the ground which caused massive noise to simply fill the atmosphere. There were just memories of their childhood blasting amongst the two of them while they continued on to have their little childish moment. All of the extra space on the floor was just perfect for the both of them. There were so many flips, kicks, turns and friendly punches that distracted both of them from their worries.

Eventually, Cheren's shirt flew off in the process of the fight along with Touko's basic tank top. Both ignored it since they seemed so comfortable with each other already.

It was quite cute to Cheren how Touko always lost play fights like this but she seemed to have gotten the upper hand just this one time. Just when she thought so, he got right on top of her and pinned her down.

"One."

"No!"

"Two."

"No, no, no! Get off of me!

"Three! I win."

"It's not fair because you pinned me down so I couldn't get up!"

"Um," Cheren glared at Touko in a funny manner. "That's the whole point."

"I guess you're right, but still! That wasn't fair, let's have a do over."

"Nah, ah, ah. I won so you have to do whatever I say or rather, take whatever I do." Cheren shamelessly hinted at what he wanted but Touko was way too dense to understand what he was trying to say.

"Fine! What is it? If it's anything you want, it's anything you get. Only one thing though!"

"How about this then?"

Without hesitation, Cheren leaned in and gave Touko a quite long kiss. Her eyes opened due to shock though he couldn't see very much. Her face turned way beyond just the simple yet complex colour of red.

To their dismay, the lamp right beside the door was flipped right on as N walked in on them. He quickly took a glimpse over their direction, shook his head and flipped off the lamp.

"Am I interrupting something here? What are you guys doing? Are you guys actually having sex on the floor?"

Touko finally pushed the pillow in Cheren's face causing him to fly up a bit.

"N-NO! Where did you get that idea from?!"

"Well, if I'm honestly just taking this out of context then I'd have to say that it's because you just have a bra on with panties and Cheren is basically shirtless, pinning you down while you both are making out."

"Wow, what happened to your innocence!?" Cheren blurted out right before Touko threw the pillow as the finishing hit. "Hey, we're not play fighting anymore, especially since I won!"

"My innocence was simply lost in books, nothing more. Besides, you both should keep it down." N sighed heavily as he walked back to his room. He didn't even bother shutting the door. He truly couldn't have thought of doing anything after the sight he saw.

"Well that was weird huh?" Cheren whispered. "I'm tired anyway so I'll just sleep here with you."

"What was his problem anyway…?"

Touko looked at Cheren while he looked right back at her. Both shrugged at each other before standing up. Touko didn't bother putting her shirt on as she slid into bed. Cheren walked over to shut the door as he walked into bed with her. Before officially sleeping, both of them giggled with each other one last time before they fell asleep.

.

Well, well, now we all know that Cheren bakes, his character has taken quite a turn from what I was trying to make him. /cough

I wonder what I should do now since I've kind of turned the story around.


	10. Chapter 10

"Happy birthday Touko!" Bianca poked her cheeks while Cheren smiled away, both staring down at Touko while she had her guard down.

Touko woke up from her sleep or in other words, her nap. Cheren and Bianca sat right next to her on the bed, the two of them sitting on each side of her. Today was Touko's birthday though she didn't even pay attention to it. She lost her train of thought throughout most of the year. Heck, she almost forgot her birthday last year so how could she remember it this time?

"What, it's my birthday?" she asked, slightly sitting up with a blank expression. "It can't be…"

"We're not kidding, see look!" Bianca shoved a calendar in front of Touko while Cheren simply pushed his glasses back in. "Cheren is going to make you some breakfast while I go out for a bit, 'kay?"

"Whaaaaaa…" Touko started to feel lightheaded as she plopped right back into her previous position. She was too confused to think at the moment. Cheren was getting ready to leave the room along with Bianca but instead, Touko quickly grabbed Bianca's arm before she flew off. "Wait, don't go yet!" she whispered, gesturing the blonde female to come back.

"Oh, what is it? Is there something wrong with you? You've been acting really weird since I came back to Unova, you know."

The brunette bluntly shook her head in disagreement, "I have to talk to you about something important."

"Really? I have to talk to you about something important too." Bianca quickly hopped back on the bed as she got in position for heavy talking. "You should tell me first though since you brought it up!"

"Well…" Touko said softly, sitting up and playing around in her hair while she looked down at her blanket. "I don't think me and Cheren are friends anymore."

"HAH! That's funny, tell me another joke."

"No, Bianca, I'm serious." Touko huffed as she looked up at Bianca, her face turning slightly red. "We kissed twice within a few days…"

Bianca covered her mouth after a stressed gasp. "I thought you meant you weren't friends as in 'he's pissed at me' or vice versa!"

"Of course not! He'd never be mad at me… I think." Both the girls giggled but then regained seriousness while Touko picked up a pillow and squished it against her face. "Yeah, I like him a lot now too…"

"Aw, you're as cute as always Touko! I always knew you both had something going on." Bianca started playing with Touko's hair while she stared right out of the clear, glass windows. "So I'm assuming you're something like… boyfriend and girlfriend now?"

Touko gently slid the extra puffed pillow down her face, now only revealing her eyes. She was too embarrassed to show her face. "N-no! It's not like that Bianca. I found out a few days ago how he felt and it only made me more confused since N was thrown into the picture before…"

"Pfft, you're serious? N is nothing compared to Cheren."

"I-I MEAN— damn it Bianca, it's just hard to say what I like and what I don't like! But I want to find out if Cheren thinks we're… dating or something." Touko buried her face in the pillow once more while Bianca gave her a pat on the back. "I'll just ask him when we're eating breakfast or something."

"Yeah, I hope he doesn't take it awkwardly or anything… but why are you interested in N all of a sudden?! He's so icky and stuff. You remember the first time we met him together right? His hair was just so odd so we used to compare it to Pansage."

Touko immediately broke into endless laughter. "Yeah, but still! He's just filled with mysteries and stuff. I'd like to know more about him you know. With Cheren, he's nice and playful. N is straight out mean but he can be nice when he wants to. Ahhhh, a girl can dream."

"Touko! We're in our twenties now! We sound like we're back when Cheren complained about us liking guys and that Cheren was the only one approachable. Also, it seems like you only like bad guys. When did you start liking bad guys?"

"Since I actually started considering N's existence in the real world or maybe when I even thought he was a real human being."

Bianca basically died on the floor while Touko was on the bed mocking their previous childhood journeys. It almost seemed like they were back in their carefree world of being a Pokémon trainer until they realized where they were and what they were doing.

"Well, I'll just get going now. I'll get breakfast while I'm out so it'll probably just be you, Cheren—"

"And N. Yeah, yeah, go on! Thanks for talking to me, Bianca."

"Always, keep your head up high and don't forget to talk to Cheren."

Touko gave Bianca a huge, heartwarming hug before watching her depart. They waved while Touko slid her face in the pillow once more. She was just thrown into a large misunderstanding at the moment. N was only there for a temporary while since Cheren didn't seem to be as close until now. He wasn't even back in Aspertia working at the gym so it was quite odd. Not many challengers came by to gyms anymore since journeys were pretty much old school nowadays.

Before walking out of the bed, Touko looked around to notice that her room was cleaner than it was yesterday. She was expecting to clean papers off of the small desk that was by the window but no, someone had already done that task for her. Grateful, she smiled and removed the covers from her legs.

The female took a deep breath before taking a step out of bed. In an instant, she slipped on the ground from a weird pain in her leg. It didn't even hurt; it was just feeling awkward now. She shrugged it off and stood up, walking to the bathroom. The doorknob was cold to the touch and it made her shiver just walking into it. It _had _to be the coldest room in the house.

Touko most definitely forgot that she had nothing except bra and panties on. All she thought of doing was brushing her teeth and taking a long, warm shower. She stripped herself without a care in the world and got prepared until she took notice of N's door. She traced the dancing light beams that flew through the transparent window first on the glass door of the shower then directly at his door. The sun had to have been shooting from a weird angle to do that since it hadn't ever happen… unless it was telling her something. Touko decided she'd check on N _after_ the shower she was so desperately begging for.

N was merely lying in bed not doing much movement at all. He didn't sleep at all last night after what he heard then saw. He was pretty much blocked out in his own world. He couldn't hear anything at all except his own breathing and his heart pumping.

The feelings that generated inside him were somewhat hard to process. He couldn't make anything of it. Not a single thing. He started feeling like he wanted the same emotion with another person but the only words he could hear in his mind were '_It's strictly business and nothing more_.'

The male constantly shook his head and was still deafened by the voices and sounds of his body. He sat up and walked toward the bathroom, not really noticing or listening to anything outside of him.

Not even a knock was giving. He simply opened the doorknob, shivering due to its cold touch. Touko flinched from hearing the door open. She quietly peered out of the glass door and noticed just messy green hair. She of course assumed it was N and didn't care much. He seemed comfortable with her in the shower so it didn't matter.

"N?" she called out, sticking her head out of the shower.

The male flinched while he was washing his face and suddenly turned to the shower. "Don't scare me like that! What are you doing in here?"

"Um…" Touko scratched her head while she wandered back into the shower. "I was in here taking a shower before you came in."

"No you weren't! Otherwise I would have heard something."

"Well, it was kind of obvious I was showering anyway since it's really damp and humid in here… I was also dropping things too! You know how clumsy I am!"

"I didn't really notice. Looks like I'm the idiot in this situation, huh?" He sighed deeply before Touko turned off the water. "I guess I'll just get going to make this a little less awkward."

He quickly walked out of the bathroom after looking in the mirror a couple of times then walked outside onto the veranda. Touko was worried so she threw towels on her body and in her hair before leaving the bathroom, though she went to N's side before doing anything else.

She noticed that he walked out of his room so she followed behind. Of course the first place she looked was where he was. He was peering off into the sky until Touko tapped his shoulder which startled him very much.

"How is your back?" she mumbled. "I tried to fix the bandages up as good as possible."

His facial expressions made it seem like he didn't want her around but she didn't want to give up on trying to get closer to him.

"It doesn't matter… It'll get better after some time. How's your leg that I supposedly bandaged up?"

"I removed the bandages before I showered and it looks alright. It burns but it'll be okay."

A heavy wind swept past the two as they gripped onto the railing together. N's hair gracefully blew toward Touko and tickled her nose. He noticed and got quite embarrassed, both at his carelessness and its length. Quickly, he pulled his hair back to his side and tied it up.

Touko started staring directly at N's face trying to capture his attention but it was already captured; he was just too nervous to look. Knowing that Touko was out here practically naked made him think that she was doing way too much for him already. He didn't need comfort; he just needed to be alone. This mixture of feelings bothered him so.

"T-Touko, what exactly were you doing when I was walking in on you and Cheren?" N turned away while his face basically gave off a sense of curiosity, innocence and jealousy. "You know… last night?"

The small woman looked straight up at N who stood right over her. Her eyes clenched with intensity, her eyes basically drowning in unbelief. She could have never thought that was on N's mind. She took a deep breath then exhaled silently.

"Cheren and I ended up play fighting and the winner got to request something from the loser. When I was kicking him off of me, I guess I pulled off his shirt and the same thing happened to me so it kinda looked like we were… um. Yeah, that thing." She coughed hesitantly to break the awkward silence between them. "Why were you so worried about that?"

"I don't know. I started feeling anger when I saw it. It was noisy so I had to see what was happening. Then when I saw it… I think hell broke loose in my head." Touko started to laugh and hold her stomach while N was looking quite serious at her. "Really now, it was just bothering me and stuff…"

"It's called jealousy." She forgot that N didn't feel much emotion until now. "It's just how you feel when you care about someone and don't want to lose them."

"I don't know if that's what it's called," he whispered. "Even if it is, I don't like you like that."

N turned around and walked back in his room while Touko, who was literally shivering, followed along. She closed the glass doors while he sat in his bed. Quickly, she followed along and sat right beside him.

N didn't really like Touko, he just liked the feelings she gave him. He thought emotions and feelings were complex things and of course he wasn't able to feel the complexity of them. Touko was just someone he was observing since books didn't give him much of a thorough explanation for why people feel or felt certain ways.

Touko on the other hand couldn't really relate to him much. He was just so different and complex in his own way though he was just as simple as simple could be. The only emotions he could read were simple too. Anger, sadness, happiness. That was pretty much it. Being a female meant you experienced more, at least that's what Touko thought. She knew everything in between happiness and sadness.

The female simply jerked on her arm while thinking of something to say. He seemed too troubled to even want to talk to her but she still kept trying. Oh, how persistent she was.

"You know, you don't have to like me in that way to have a feeling of what jealousy is." N swiftly turned down to Touko while she kicked her feet back and forth, feeling quite in a content mood. "Friends feel that way about other friends you know."

N finally remembered what Touko had said to her a few days ago. They were finally 'friends' but he often didn't want to think of it that way. He felt like he was always cruel to her but that's how he was treated by his father. He had no other way to relay feeling to anyone without doing it in such a cold, cold manner.

"Is that so? I'll keep that in mind."

He smiled, which made Touko smile as well. Happiness touched the both of them as it filled the vicinity. She stood up and stretched her arm after a yawn.

"Great then! Come down for breakfast in a bit, alright?!"

Quickly, she leaned toward N, giving him a very meaningful hug. He had no idea what to do until he felt his arms wrap right around her waist.

She let go and ran out of the door, leaving N there wondering what had happened at that moment.

Her eyes met with that of Cheren's; he suddenly appeared in Touko's room. Touko got quite embarrassed because she was still not dressed in proper clothing. She was worried that Cheren could have been eavesdropping on her and N but she didn't truly care, only because she was giving N comfort of some sort.

"So, I'm assuming you've taken a shower but you oddly have been walking around the villa half naked?"

"S-something like that… I was talking to N and I got a bit carried away."

"Carried away? You sound like you were seducing him or something."

Touko hesitantly slapped Cheren while slowly processing the meaning of what he was saying. It was always typical of Cheren to assume something though he was always joking.

"No! I was just talking to him for like ten minutes or something about some stuff."

Cheren stood up from the couch and walked toward Touko, removing the towel that was lying still on her head. Her long length hair was still soaking wet from the shower.

"I need to blow dry your hair so stay still, alright? Go sit on your bed, I'll be back."

"Yeah, yeah…"

It was also typical of Cheren to always want to do everything if it wasn't obvious enough. He went to the bathroom to go grab the hair dryer while Touko got comfortable on the bed. She couldn't help but think about what Bianca told her.

_Do I tell him now or do I wait? Do I tell him now or do I wait? Do I tell him now or do I wait... _She couldn't think of a better way to approach him so she just kept quiet until he returned, hoping it would slip out naturally.

Finally, Cheren walked out of the bathroom with the blow dryer and with a book he randomly found while he was scouting for the dryer.

"Are you ready? You don't look too okay."

"I'm fine, don't worry," she justified. "Go ahead; don't mind whatever I'm doing…"

Cheren started to rub the heck out of Touko's head while she sat there plainly looking straight forward through the window ahead. She started playing with her fingers while he flipped on the hair dryer, causing heavy amounts of warmth to fill the air.

Touko felt relieved that she could feel whatever she was feeling around her. The temperature was perfect to be exact. Walking around outside with just a towel during winter wasn't really the smartest idea but that was just how Touko was.

"I'm done with breakfast, you know. We can eat afterward so just call N down when you want."

"I gue—"

The sound of Touko's phone cut her off. Her and Cheren looked at its direction while the latter leaned over to the upper side of the bed and grabbed it, answering the phone in a knockoff formal way. He left the dryer on and continued to mess around with her hair.

"Good morning. Mhm… Right now? That's impossible…" Cheren's calamity did not make Touko feel comfortable. She was quite curious to know what the other person on the phone was babbling about. "Is she going to be alright? That's perfect actually. Thank you, have a great day."

"Um, what was that and what were you just talking about?"

"Your mother."

"AHA, WHAT?"

The first thing that oddly occurred was Touko falling off the bed and rolling on the ground, basically dying from laughter. She rolled around until Cheren cleared his throat and coughed.

"Oh wait, you're serious?" she asked, cleaning tears out of her eyes.

Cheren simply nodded his head while the room went completely silent.

"No, seriously. She's getting surgery today since she went into critical condition a while ago." Touko quickly shot up from the ground and felt a sense of guilt hop up her spine. "The surgeon is finally in the region so he'll be getting to her today."

_That's right, I forgot to see mom again… _Touko sat up and cleared her throat. "I suppose we should see her one of these days?"

"Of course. Get up here, woman."

Wordlessly, she nodded and got back up on the bed. She sat crisscross while Cheren continued to mess around in her hair. The book that he had returned with poked Touko on the side as it sunk into the middle of the bed due to the weight Cheren and Touko were planting into one place. She picked it up and took one glimpse of it.

"Cheren, where did you find this book?"

"It was sitting in the basket of your hair items. Do you even know what it is?" he chuckled, turning off the hair dryer.

"No, but it looks very boring," she mumbled, throwing the book over to her right.

Cheren picked up the book and threw it in her crossed lap. "Touko, it's our photo album when we were younger."

"W-what?! I don't even recall something like this…"

"You must have an idea of what it is if it's sitting in your bathroom. Here, let's just take a little look at it."

The both of them quickly scanned through pages while they both stopped at a highly familiar one. Touko finally started to remember everything, especially when Cheren flipped to the next page. He tried to hold his laughter while Touko basically died looking at the picture. Touko could never forget a scene like this.

"Whoa, is Bianca and Touya doing what I think they're doing?"

"Heh, yeah, they're kissing! You can't remem—" Touko quickly cut herself off when she recalled the most hilarious childhood moments. "Wait! You passed out after Bianca dared me to kiss you. Then, I dared her to kiss Touya!"

"So _that's _what happened while I was knocked out?"

"Yeah, yeah. Of course! I can't believe I didn't tell you for all of these years!"

"Most certainly. I'm quite surprised I had no knowledge of this… that's a shocker."

Touko looked over her shoulder at Cheren while he pushed his glasses back. "What is hm?"

"Just how Touya turned out, you know?"

Silently, Touko closed the book and hopped out of the bed, facing Cheren now. She simply pulled her arm to stretch and yawn. Her mind was trying to wonder off of the current subject but she just couldn't help but blurt something randomly.

"Hmmph, did you know he was with Team Plasma?"

"WHAT?" he asked hesitantly, gripping hard onto the covers. "You have to be damned to think that."

"He strolled in here with that blonde tramp that's all over N. Like literally, have I not told you this either?!"

Cheren shook his head causing Touko to give herself the hardest face palm of all time.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, yeah! He walked in here all invisible or something and they had a battle in the hallway out there! Then Touya's Bisharp basically got bitch slapped with a shadow ball or something with N's Zoroark."

"A POKÉMON BATTLE IN THE VILLA?" Cheren's fist shot up into the air while Touko sat there nodding, pouting in agreement. "No way!"

"Now you just sound sarcastic."

"I never thought you'd catch it one day."

"I'm not as stupid as you think!" She poked him in the forehead while looking down at her lap once more. "Anyways, yeah, that's what happened."

"So let me get this straight, how long was Touya in Team Plasma?"

"I don't even know…" she whispered, sounding tense. "Maybe N knows something about it?"

"Drag him to breakfast so we can talk to him about it then."

_Breakfast!_, she thought in a happily manner. _I can finally ask him that question~_

Cheren slowly walked off of the bed and walked to the door while Touko stormed out before him and knocked on N's door, basically letting him know that breakfast was ready. N flinched while he was reading the papers on his desk. He ignored it while he opened the door and glared out slowly.

She ran into her room once again to throw on some clothing. Since it was kind of cold in the villa, she threw on an oversized sweater with some gym shorts. She wore her Pikachu slippers and looked in the body length mirror. When she was satisfied, she put two thumbs up and ran out of the door.

Afterward, she stormed down the steps while Cheren was still walking slowly, taking his sweet damn time going down the stairwell. Touko hopped off of the side railing while he glared at her.

Cheren pushed his glasses back and scratched his head while he finally touched the bottom of the staircase and onto the floor. _What is up with her this morning?_

Of course, the table was already set. Bianca already had justified to Touko that she was going to grab breakfast while she was out so she didn't worry about her eating much. Bianca was always the one to eat normally out of the three childhood friends anyway.

Finally, N had arrived at the table. They all started eating while all Touko could do was stare at Cheren. It was the question. It was bothering her so much that it interfered with her eating.

"How long was Touya in Team Plasma?" Cheren blurted, causing N to drop his fork onto the ground. Touko's mouth dropped open randomly while thinking about ways to approach the question.

"Where the hell did you get that from?" The darker haired male pointed right to Touko who wasn't even paying attention. "Oh, he's been in Team Plasma secretly for around for thirteen or fifteen years."

Cheren spit out water while he was faced toward the door. N simply stood up, took his breakfast and ate near the sink. He was almost finished.

"What the heck?!" Touko finally snapped into reality. Seems like that question was going to have to wait until N left the table. "He's been in Team Plasma for fifteen years? How could that even be possible and how does it even make sense?"

"Pfft, what are you talking about, he never told you?"

"Of course not! He was following us around the entire time I started my journey pretty much… Right Cheren?"

"I'm afraid so," he replied. "I was reading some papers last night while you fell asleep Touko. And…" The male completely cut himself off before looking down.

"What are you trying to say then?" Touko stopped eating immediately, standing up and looking straight down. She demanded to know the very long awaited answer to her aged question.

"I didn't think I'd have to say something like this but…" N gave a heavy sigh causing mass suspense to run amok. "Actually, I don't know how to put it."

"Spit it out, you're me here guys!"

The doorbell broke into their tiny little conversation once again. Cheren offered to answer it but Touko signaled that she could do it. It caught her off guard but when she opened the door, there was no one in front of it. She looked to the right, to the left. Nothing.

She got angry, thinking it was a prank until she looked down. A bouquet of flowers, specifically roses were set on the ground. The scent of the flowers was still present in the air. Touko, who was now blushing, bent over to pick up the flowers and noticed a card on the side.

"Hmm? The same thing happened a year ago," she whispered.

"You idiot!" Cheren pulled the curious female inside and pushed his glasses back. "You're letting the cold air get inside you know."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry…" Touko flipped the card over and started to read silently to herself. "'Happy birthday Touko, I'm sorry I couldn't spend this day with you once again'. Hmmm…"

N finished his breakfast and tried not to let anything slip from my mouth. Yes, he was still a Plasma king but he just didn't have loyalty to Plasma. The secrets of Team Plasma were meant to keep secret from the outside though anything could have been used against them. It was N who thought of everything along with Ghetsis and Touya.

Quickly, N walked up to his room while Touko followed along with hesitation. Cheren simply looked away while he cleaned the table though he was curious to where Touko received the flowers or more importantly, who they came from.

"I'll be in my room!" Touko yelled, causing echoes to shoot through the hallway. "Sorry Cheren!"

She shut the door to her room while she kicked off her slippers, swiftly hopping into position on her bed as she started to examine the card.

"This handwriting is so familiar… why can't I put my finger on it?"

Her mind closed up on her for an hour. It looked so familiar to her. Could it have been a coincidence that right at that moment the flowers were delivered to her? It couldn't be. She continued to look at it once again, tracing her fingers over the beautifully written cursive.

_Wait, it really can't be! The only person I know that can write cursive this well is…_

She cut herself off quickly and started to go through the letters on her nightstand. Quickly, she got one that was close to the handwriting shown on the card.

"Aha, I knew it!"

"You knew what, huh?"

"EEP!"

The door to Touko's room opened up slightly with a curious Cheren peeking through. Gladly, there was a wall blocking her bed and her door so he couldn't see what she was doing.

She carefully slid the card underneath the pillow and shuffled the letter back on her nightstand without him noticing and started to sniff the flowers, thankful for the person who gave them to her. It couldn't have been due to their ongoing dispute but she still believed it was him.

"Touko, what are you doing? You've been up here for quite some time. Bianca was calling you downstairs but I guess you couldn't hear or something."

"O-oh! I'm sorry," she whined, placing the flowers on her bed. "I'll go downstairs I guess."

"No, just sit here, I'll bring her up here for you."

"You sure?"

"Not a problem at all. Just stop being so weird when you're by yourself. Talking to yourself isn't normal either."

Cheren quietly walked off with the slightest footsteps ever. Touko felt quite scared. Cheren was using his 'I am not amused' voice for no reason at all. He seemed fed up with something but then again, he was always fed up with something.

Touko looked straight and started putting herself in weird scenarios of what ifs such as what if she decided to just jump out of the window at that moment. Feeling stupid, she shook her head until Bianca walked in, scaring Touko but she was expecting it in a way.

"Wow Touko! I called you so many times! What are you, deaf?" The two females giggled while Touko simply scratched her head, ashamed that she was too busy sniffing flowers and reading beautifully written cursive from a man. "Here, I had to go through so much time in digging it up but here you go!"

"Pfft, you dug something up for me?" Touko scratched her face with her eyes widened. Bianca gave her a small box which wasn't anything more than about the size of a normal mail package. "Hm, what is this?"

"You'll know what it is if you just open it!"

The young female couldn't help but open this small box as fast as possible. In this box, there were two books, a flower that looked quite dead, some pictures, a tiny box and two sheets of paper. Touko poked her cheek in satisfaction.

Bianca, the airhead of the three, actually remembered something from long ago. Perhaps it was because she was mostly drowned in their old childhood memories. It was grateful she was around anyway or else all three of them wouldn't have been friends from the start.

"This is your time capsule box, you know that?"

"I-I would have assumed so…" the young woman replied.

It was silly how everyone had gotten their time capsule box before Touko did and it was only because Touko was a few months younger than the two of them.

At the age of fifteen, the three created a time capsule for them to look at when they were the age of twenty-one. Cheren received his before everyone, then Bianca and lastly Touko. Everyone put a bit of themselves in each person's box. Surprisingly, Touya threw in a bit of something into Touko's box before he departed Numeva for a supposed Pokémon journey in Sinnoh.

Touko started to shuffle things around, fascinated at how they were still in good condition after all the years.

"Oh," Bianca interrupted kindly. "Did you talk to Cheren?"

"Nah, I couldn't do it, we were too busy talking about Touya of course."

Bianca gave the biggest sigh she had ever given in front of anyone. Her cheeks puffed up, poking a Touko while she was still looking into the box.

"Hmmph, anything else interesting happen while I was gone?"

"Something like that I guess."

The younger female pulled out the card that she left hidden away from Cheren's wondering eyes. Hesitantly, she handed it over to Bianca. She took one last glimpse of the card before completely handing it over to her.

"Remember how last year when you were in Sinnoh and I told you about something weird happening on my birthday?"

Bianca nodded quickly while Touko went over to her left, grabbing the flowers then shoving them in Bianca's lap after giving a blunt pout.

"Whoa, you got another bouquet?"

"Yeah, I think I have an idea on who it may be from this time too."

"How do you know for sure? It's not like the person's name is written on the card from what I'm looking at."

"Well, if I'm right," Touko muttered, quickly shuffling with the letters on her desk again, carefully finding the right one. "The person who wrote this has to be—"

"Wait, wait! This is too much suspense. I have to take a breather!" Bianca quickly ran out through the glass doors onto the veranda, sniffing about in the air.

Touko could not believe she got cut off for the most stupidest reason ever. A breather? Where did Bianca pick that up from? That sounded like something Clay would say.

"You're so stupid Bianca." She followed her out onto the veranda where they peered off, looking into the ocean. "Just forget I even brought that up before it kills you."

"I'm still mad you didn't talk to Cheren about your relationship with him!" She took a deep breath and turned right over to Touko who was scrunched up in her sweater. "There's something holding you back."

Touko's face turned into the most clearest shade of red. "How would you think he'd feel if I asked him so soon about our relationship to each other?!"

"Simply ecstatic." Cheren whispered in Touko's ear, grabbing her from behind.

Both females hopped up in surprise. Cheren did not even give a simple warning that he was sneaking up on them. He was really good at that they had to admit. He never liked doing things with people knowing. He was more of a secretive person compared to the other two.

Touko was basically frozen; the wind was also contributing to her stance.

_Why must he always do this to me?!_, she screamed in her head. "I don't want to die before I get married Cheren. Stop scaring me like that!"

"I'll leave you two alone!" Bianca whispered. "Heh, have fun you two lovebirds."

"No, no, stay, I insist!"

The young female tried to get out of Cheren's grip but she just couldn't get loose. The other female simply skipped right out of sight, slamming the door to let them know that her presence was long gone.

"Why are you so nervous?"

"Because you basically snuck up behind me and heard every word I was saying to Bianca. Emphasis on Bianca."

"Yeah, yeah, you want an answer to that question don't you?"

Touko flipped around and looked up at Cheren, both of their eyes locking right on each other creating immense silence and pressure between them both.

"I would very much appreciate it more than all the gifts in the world…" Touko's lips poked out while she poked her cheek. "Actually no, I think a Mago Berry Cake wouldn't be worth standing here with you."

"Ouch. Your words hurt more than a slap, did you know that?"

The young girl blurted out with a heavy laughter causing Cheren to squeeze her tighter. The thought of what happened yesterday at the castle was just too much for her to handle.

"I know that, I know. Answer my question now!"

"Rushing isn't very ladylike, Touko."

"You rush me all the time, especially when it's my due dates on my paintings or stories."

"That's because I have to push you on that, stupid." Cheren poked Touko on the forehead. "We're not dating, happy?"

"Whew, that took a load off of my shoulders!"

The brunette cheered while she bolted back into the house, leaving Cheren there to gaze at the sea. He wasn't really affected by anything. Besides, it was only to make sure she didn't get hurt. Cheren was secretive to the point where he couldn't trust anyone with the things he did. He left it all alone right then.


	11. Chapter 11

After the awkward meeting between Cheren and Touko, the latter was thinking about what N could have possibly been doing. She ignored the desire to check up on him by lying in her bed and going through the things Bianca brought. She spent an hour doing so, but stopped at a heavy urge to check up on N.

On the other hand, N was busy thinking about Touko more than anything now. He couldn't get her off of his mind no matter how much he tried. She was just so cute but serious at the same time. He was trying to block her completely out of thought when he was gone but he still couldn't get the comforting thought of wanting to hold her gone. Quickly, he shook his head and placed it on the desk.

Coincidentally, Touko walked right into his room but calmly which was highly unusual. She zoomed right to his bed and sat there, facing N's back who was sitting in the desk in front of her.

"You've been quiet all day," she whispered, messing around in her hair.

"I'm just doing some thinking."

"Thinking about what then?"

"Team Plasma, of course," he muttered, sheepishly, turning around to face the female. "I'm worried about what will happen they find out Zoroark is just a decoy."

"Hell is obviously going to break loose! Knowing me, I would have gone to save you wherever they were taking you."

"They took Zoroark to a secret Team Plasma facility." Touko immediately, sat up straight and glared directly at N's eyes. "Huh?"

"Well, why didn't you tell us before?! We could have broken him out and destroyed Team Plasma right then and there!"

"That's the problem," N's voice rose a bit louder than before. "Even I don't know where this place is. I've been there a few times but every time I went, I was forced to be blindfolded so I would never know of its location."

"How is that even possible?!" Touko slipped onto the ground while trying to control her anger. "I mean, how is it possible that you could have never seen at least the outside of this area?"

"Water and a lot of flower fields in the distance," he softly uttered. "There's just a lot of water and it's isolated somewhere. I know there's a gate nearby as well. That's all I can tell you about the location."

"A gate? Why would there be a gate?"

N's door opened up quietly, capturing both the male and female's attention. Lance quickly shot into the room and walked in with a couple of papers and a small box. Cheren and Bianca quickly followed behind him, unaware of why they were dragged along to the room.

"I was looking for the both of you," Lance groaned, taking a seat on a couch against the wall. "There are matters of which we must discuss so everyone take a seat somewhere."

Cheren rushed to the couch, unable to hold patience any longer for what was about to be discussed. Bianca plainly hopped on the bed right next to Touko. Everyone simply turned to Lance after they got comfortable.

"So?" Touko kicked her feet back and forth, sounding like she was going to hyperventilate. "Why are we all here for?"

"I did some research on this Pokémon that Team Plasma strives to catch." Lance pulled out a picture of what appeared to be some kind of weird cave filled with ice and water. "This is where it is."

"That's quite hysterical how you can give us a picture of a cave but not tell us the actual location." N chuckled away while the picture was passed along to everyone. "Where is this, Icirrus City or somewhere close to it?"

"There is a legend associated with it. According to people who live in Lacunosa, there's a horrific monster, or was a horrific monster that hit close by causing a massive crater or something of that sort. This monster liked to eat people which is why Lacunosa Town has a wall surrounding it."

"I remember that clearly…" Touko uttered, shivering to the thought of getting eaten by a colossal monster. She gripped onto Bianca's arm and pulled her feet from over the bed. "But yeah, what about this crater?"

"It's actually a chasm," Lance whispered dramatically. "People have gone in and done research but haven't come back. In there, they say Kyurem is alive, isolated from society. I don't think Ghetsis has the guts to go there so we can easily dismiss the plan for Kyurem right now."

Everyone basically flinched, though N kept his cool. Touko couldn't help but wonder why they needed Kyurem around. She wasn't exactly around when the guys discussed it so of course she didn't know.

"Touko, Bianca, you both look quite absent-minded, care to tell why?"

"What are we going to do now? I mean, what's the matter with Kyurem?" Touko spoke for the both of them. "I never understood why Kyurem was a big part of this.

The males sighed in unison basically giving an extended "oh yeah" before realizing both females didn't know anything.

"Well, long story short, Team Plasma was going to capture Kyurem and basically freeze your region. It's highly impossible unless they want to look like real criminals." Lance laughed halfheartedly then cleared his throat afterward.

"Anyways, the real reason I'm here is because I can't spend weeks on trying to plan something out. They're probably on their way to come get N as we speak. After reading this stuff on the papers here, they have been planning to make N's successor take the throne."

"Ah, Touya…" N whispered. "He's always been after what I have and he probably already has it. I hope they don't come anytime soon. Our defenses are pretty low."

"I have the alliance ready and on the line for the next infiltration but now, we have to have someone hack into a satellite so we can find out where they're hiding."

Of course, Cheren raised his hand causing everyone to look over at him awkwardly. It's not like Cheren wasn't smart or anything, he just didn't seem like he was up to the task of doing it. Either way, Touko gawked at the thought of him being able to do something impressive like hacking satellites.

"I can try to do it, it doesn't seem too hard, just give me some time and I'll probably think of something."

"Then I'll put you too it but I'll also have someone help so it won't take too long. I'm also going to need someone to be in charge of First Aid if we ever get into trouble."

Everyone glared at Bianca first. She was the gentlest out of everyone. Eventually, she sighed then accepted her fate with a simple nod. Eyes shot back at Lance for the next 'role'.

"Touko, N…" The two slowly turned toward N after blinking at each other once. "You both have to stay while I take Bianca and Cheren for training, got it?"

Both of them didn't seem to mind going along.

_Pfft, just when they get here he wants to take them away!? _Touko pouted and stood up, walking toward the bathroom. "Alright, alright."

"Hold on Touko. I hired some bodyguards for you, just in case some trouble comes along the way." Lance coughed awkwardly and caused Touko to feel a deep sensation crawl up and down her spine. She stopped right in her tracks. "Are you okay with this? You really don't seem like it."

"Bodyguards?! You can't be serious…"

"They'll be here shortly," he replied, completely ignoring her body movements. "Back to current plan that we're talking about, I've brought us each a walkie-talkie so we can keep in contact. They connect within the entire region. If you happen to encounter trouble, just call for me. Everyone is dismissed."

Lance, Bianca and Cheren all walked off at the same time after receiving the walkie-talkies, the last to immediately running to their rooms to get ready. Touko walked into the bathroom to soak her face with a bunch of water then rushed to her room to take a nap. N didn't really do anything but continue sitting there. Everyone kept out of each other's way for remainder of the day.

Bianca randomly popped in Touko's room moments after their little meeting. Touko was messing around in the mirror, simply playing with her hair without a single care in the world.

"Touko! What are you doing? I'm about to leave!"

Startled, the female looked back at the other, holding a thin strip of hair in her hand. "Oh, I was just bored so I started looking in the mirror."

"That's not normal. You don't like looking at the mirror because you fear cracking it."

"I have nothing to do anyway since you both are leaving for 'training'! Besides, when does someone need to learn how to do first aid? That's the easiest thing ever."

"And this is coming from the person who sucks at doing bandages."

Both of the females giggled at each other which allowed the atmosphere to become less awkward. "Yeah, yeah, what is it Bianca?"

"I don't feel alright with you staying alone with just men in the house you know. Your innocence is probably gone anyway so what am I talking about..."

"Heh, you're funny. If you're talking about me getting laid, never gonna happen," Touko leaned on the desk, making weird faces at the mirror while Bianca finally took comfort on her bed. "That's just like me seeing an Arceus: never ever going to happen."

"Believe me, if I'm married, you're probably going to get laid eventually. Just don't lose it to N, that's the worst that could happen."

"The day I get laid will be the same exact day I don't do something stupid. Also, what makes you think I'd lose it to N, weirdo?"

"I don't know, he's pretty weird if you ask me. He probably has some kind of mystery in his pants that he's hiding."

"Or… he has nothing down there, period. It's not like he's a Diglett or anything."

Bianca broke out into laughter causing Touko to look over at her awkwardly. She couldn't understand the humor. She was serious. N was too innocent. It's not like he could simply turn from a calm and collected guy from one day then a total freak the next. She covered her face and started to cough, hinting that Bianca was kind of taking it too far.

"Look at the time, I should get going," Bianca stood up from the bed and walked over to Touko, giving her a final hug before her departure. "I'll be back in a couple of weeks. Don't worry, just keep out of trouble."

Touko nodded and smiled. At the moment of doing so, Bianca walked off and shut the door quietly, leaving the female to be free and alone as she wished to be. The only sad thing about this was the fact that she was still craving to play around in her hair since it was bouncier than normal.

.

Hours later, the night started to fly through the air. There was complete silence in the villa; no one was awake. Lance had already parted with the two and the other two remained as they were commanded.

Without a single word, Touko shot up from the bed, her reading interrupted by the sound of her walkie-talkie. Following after, the sound of an item dropping came from N's room. He was also awoken by the same noise it seemed. He shuffled all over his bed looking for the walkie-talkie before he plopped on the ground behind it.

A deep voice cleared its throat, startling Touko more. She became attentive but continued to read until there was an 'official' word slipping out of the walkie-talkie.

"_This is Lance. All four of you should be listening right now. I have Cheren and Bianca on my side so N and Touko should be listening carefully or both will miss everything that is said. _

_You have three buttons. There is a blue, yellow and a red one. The blue is to enable your microphone for talking, the yellow sends a quiet but loud beep to other walkie-talkies and the red one is merely for self detonation. Yes, I know you all may be thinking 'why is there a detonation button' but it will come in handy eventually._

_I would like you each to speak your names starting with Cheren, then Bianca, then N, then Touko in one second intervals so I know you all are listening_."

"_Cheren here_."

"_Bianca_!"

"_N…_"

"Touko."

"_Ahem_," Lance cleared his throat and continued to talk. "_Alright then, now that I know we all are here, I will speak freely on how we will deal with things. Bianca will always stay paired with Cheren and Touko with N. Once paired, you may not separate or else you will be endangered. You are not allowed to leave rooms unless you're going to the bathroom and this is especially targeted to Touko_."

The female quickly looked up from her book and back to the walkie-talkie, "Why me?"

"_Team Plasma is specifically looking for you. We have to hide you as much as possible unless you want to be held as a test experiment of some sort. You don't want that now do you_?"

"Of course I don't!"

"_Good_," he confidently growled. "_The bodyguards should be here now but I have to warn you, they are quite strict at their job and they like to make a surprise entrance. Well, the night belongs to you guys now_."

Lance's microphone shut off not a single word was said. She threw the walkie-talkie to her side and looked up at the ceiling. Neither of the two that were back at the villa had any intentions on being together all the time so neither of them moved. Instead, Touko felt hungry and walked out of her door before running for her life. Two identical men ran down the hallway and pinned her down before she could even reach the stairwell.

"Ingo, hold his legs down before he gets away!"

"I'm a woman, do I feel like a man to you? I thought you just felt my butt a second ago!" Touko attempted to kick the males off of her but of course, she was not strong enough to do so. "N, help! I'm being attacked by two weird perverts or something!"

"Hey, we're not perverts!" they both yelled in unison.

N, being the smartest and most civilized person of this situation, switched on the lights to the hallway, immediately revealing two identical grey haired men on top of a small, helpless Touko. She was struggling to get out of their bond until the two realized they were actually harming the one they were hired to protect.

"Wait, get off of her Emmet!" one of them spoke. "This is the one."

This so called male named Emmet looked toward N's door and noticed the green haired male looking awkwardly at them. He quickly stood up along with the other male who helped the poor woman up. She immediately jerked out of his grasp and ran directly behind N, clutching his shirt while the latter gave himself the biggest face palm of all time.

"I take it you two are the body guards?" N sighed deeply. "It doesn't give a great impression when you're attacking a defenseless woman." He turned around walking toward his door, wanting to return back to his dreamland.

"D-don't worry about it! I probably should have said something before walking out of my room," Touko let go of N's shirt swiftly before walking forward toward the stairs. "But I suppose that was a bit uncalled for."

Both males stopped her from walking forward. Their intention was to introduce themselves before she walked on but she didn't seem too interested, especially since her stomach was basically screaming at her to eat. Her feet forcefully stopped along with them tugging at her arms.

"I'm sorry Madame; allow me to introduce myself," the male in black softly spoke, both slowly letting go of her. "I am Ingo and my twin brother here is Emmet."

_Heh, perverts_, she thought. "I see… well, that's N and I'm Touko. I'm guessing you know that already."

To stop the awkward silence between the three of them, Touko started off walking down the steps. Right after, Ingo ran right in front of her and led her into the kitchen while Emmet took watch behind her. The young female started feeling a deep, sharp pain in her stomach telling her that something wasn't right. They followed her around and stared at her while she was eating. What kinds of people even do this kind of stuff? They seemed more like creepers, stalkers and perverts as they took small notes of her actions. The way she walked, the way she stood, even the way she ate. Simply awkward.

They whispered to each other, continuing to glare at Touko while she sipped away at the last amount of tea. She'd give them back evil glares but they wouldn't turn away. They literally had paper and pens, noting every single thing she did. It bothered her so much that she dropped her tea glass, forcing her to bend over multiple times. The male in white ran up the stairs and didn't seem to return. This left Touko alone with this weird stranger. She hurriedly swept up the mess while this male pretended to stare around the living room.

After she cleaned up the glass, Ingo, or the male who Touko referred to as 'Pervert Guy 1' pulled out a walkie-talkie and whispered into it ever so softly. She quickly ran up the stairs, giving her time to escape his view. A heavy sigh of relief slipped out of her mouth after she carefully walked into her room, not making noise. She quickly grabbed the walkie-talkie from under the pillow and tried to find a place to hide so she wouldn't get caught.

A thought sparked. The smartest place to hide would be the room that could lock: the last room down the hall. No one could possibly have the key, not even Cheren. Well, maybe even Cheren; he was pretty much in charge when he was around. He most likely had the key with him anyway.

Without another second to rest, she ran back to the door but hesitantly to make sure she wasn't making any noise. She felt like a little girl again playing hide and go seek but this time, it wasn't with her childhood friends. The door, still slightly open was pulled inward while she slipped through the small crack. Ignorantly, she slid across the glossy floor so she wouldn't make any peep.

"I wonder where N is…" Touko couldn't help but glare into N's room and when she did, she saw Emmet or 'Pervert Guy 2'. _For_ _Arceus' sake, what is he doing_?! Scared half to death, she stopped gliding or more formally sliding and slipping. She quickly opened the last room's door, jumped in and locked it quickly.

"Eh," she whispered, slipping under a random desk. "If this goes on for any longer, I might just shoot myself."

"How are you holding up down there?" N appeared right above the desk, giving a huge slam which startled the hell out of the poor woman. He squat down to give her a soft wave afterward. "Hopefully I'm not invading your privacy?"

"Eeeeeek! I'm trying to hide and you're probably going to blow my cover!"

"I shouldn't be, that weird man is going through all my stuff. He thinks I'm planning to hurt you or something."

"Heh! It's because I'm special."

"Just like a Psyduck. Just shush or they'll catch us together…"

"Are you just going to stand idle like that then?"

"Of course not so move over or something."

Touko, shocked, gave an evil glare at him. He couldn't see but he could probably sense it somehow. "How are we going to fit? It's not like we can sit separately!" _I most definitely don't want to sit with you right now at the very least…_

"Move; I'll show you."

"No way! You must be kidding me right now!" A large thud smacked up against the wall, startling the both of them to their dismay. The female gave in instantly just as long as what was happening was going to be logical. "Alright, what's the plan?!"

"Hmm," N moved in closer to the desk to examine it a bit more. "How about you sit on my lap while we hide? That's the only way we're going to get through this."

"Oh no. You have _got _to be kidding me right now."

"Ingo! I found something!" Emmet shut N's door behind him quite loudly, finally scaring Touko to the point where she could just piss herself without notice.

"Alright, alright, I'll move…"

Touko slid out from under the desk completely, still keeping her guard up just in case they were being watched. N crawled under the desk then signaled for her to come back under. It was a weird position for her to be sitting in even though the desk was high enough for them to sit under. She clenched his arm for support while getting on his lap but she didn't feel comfortable at all.

There was just silence for the first few minutes. The faint sound of footsteps running around the villa were excruciating to the two of them along with fading screaming and sometimes commands coming from the 'bodyguards'. They felt that they would get caught but Touko then realized once again that they couldn't open the room without the key but they'd eventually need to get out at some point unless they wanted to turn into cannibals.

Out of the two of them, Touko became quite nervous and got even more uncomfortable. She was just too close to N right now. Her head was pressed up against his chest but he didn't seem to mind. She certainly did. His heart started to create crazy variations of beats.

N merely sat still without movement besides him gripping on Touko's shirt when he got nervous. He didn't mind her there at the very least. He was just sleepy but leaving her to just sit there alone would have been rude. He sighed then looked down at the girl who was looking out from under the desk.

It was so nerve wracking to know that both of their privacies were being invaded by merely two strangers… or so it seemed.

Touko fell asleep soundly without even realizing it. N became quite worried that she might snore, giving away where there spot could have possibly been. She was breathing very heavily, eventually making more tense feeling to arise. He also didn't feel comfortable with her sitting on him, sleeping. There was also a pen in his pocket, making this a very bad situation to be in.

To his dismay, a massive vibration basically shook the ground which created some sort of extra mini earthquake. This didn't wake Touko up which was quite odd. Instead, the pen in his pocket poked her quite hard on her behind, causing her to hop up and hit her head on the desk above her. N freaked out for a second before turning into his original position.

"Ah! What are you doing?" _That didn't feel normal_, she thought, oddly looking down in her lap. _What if… no, Bianca couldn't be right…_

He hesitantly replied to her "You felt that didn't you?"

"Um, please don't tell me you're getting a—" N's hand quickly covered over the small woman's mouth. She didn't make a single sound afterward.

"That's absurd!" N's face basically drowned in red, embarrassed that she would think something like that. "I-I'm not talking about what you think I'm talking about."

"Then what else could you possibly be talking about right now? You just poked my butt so what else could I think about otherwise?"

"I didn't poke your butt!" He was quite frightened with Touko's train of thought but she was just too dense to notice. "If you felt that vibration, then it was probably them over there."

"I'm too busy worrying about the mystery in your pants rather than worrying about them."

"Look at you; you don't even make sense right now." N changed his stance from being alerted to simply leaning against the desk. "I'm going to sleep."

"Wah?! Like this?"

"Of course, how else would I? Would you rather I sit on you instead?" N hysterically moved Touko off of his lap with intensified seriousness. "Looks like it's time to switch."

"I didn't mean what position!" Her voice rose louder the more he moved her over, but she forced herself back on his lap. "I mean how can you just allow yourself to sleep with all of this going on right now?"

"It's just like how you fell asleep on me."

"But that was an accident. How are you going force yourself to do it?!"

"Simple."

It wasn't complex. All he did was close his eyes. Touko pouted without even realizing what was going on. He had just blocked her out just like that. His heart started to beat rapidly but he ignored it; his mouth shaking from inability to stay calm. She looked up at him while he forced his eyes closed.

"I can feel your heartbeat."

"It's not hard to feel if your ear is right on my chest."

"I thought you were sleeping?"

"I can't. You're sitting on me."

"Then what did I tell you?" She looked back down in her lap and started to shake. "Are you still worried about them trying to get us?"

"Something like that."

"They can't get us. They don't have the key to the room, you know?"

N's carelessness got the best of him. He flinched upward, hitting his head against the top of the desk. He was kind of mad at her, but also finding it hard to believe that they couldn't get in. He had to take her word for it anyway; he barely knew anything about the house to begin with.

"You're not kidding are you?"

Touko cleared her throat and then coughed, looking right up at him. "Not really. The only person that actually has the key is Cheren. It would be impossible for them to get to it because they're most likely on him."

"Alright, then we'll bet on it," he opened his eyes and looked down at her. "If they get us before we wake up, you owe me. If they don't, I owe you. Deal?"

"Deal." _Heh, this'll be a piece of Mago Berry cake._ _There's no way he can win this._

"I'm sleeping now and so should you. I'll keep my arms on you if you're feeling a bit cold."

Not a single word was exchanged after that. The both of them closed their eyes, each hoping that they would win this bet of theirs.

.

Touko unexpectedly woke up feeling extra refreshed. She felt her surroundings but kept her eyes open; she could feel the light being splattered all over her. It was quite cold but she felt that she was in covers. Wait, she was in covers?

She quickly sat up and opened her eyes, looking straight forward. Her arms felt a bit sore along with her entire backside. She was in her room. This couldn't have been real. It had to have been a dream. They seriously couldn't have just come in the room and grabbed her along with N just like that.

Awkwardly, she looked right next to her and saw N. He was sitting in a chair, basically handcuffed to it and staring right at the ceiling. It was odd how he was appearing to her; his clothing had been stripped off of him. He was shirtless and wearing the exact same pair of shorts before. He looked like he was getting awkwardly abused by the two males but it wasn't her problem.

The two 'perverts' were standing right next to him, one on each side. Both sides argued without taking notice of the woman being awake.

"A tranquilizer? Did you really shoot us with a tranquilizer?"

"We had no choice, you kept kicking at us and you even threw Touko." Ingo poked his fist up into the air and pointed right at N. "What kind of man throws a woman he's supposed to protect?"

_I didn't feel that. _Touko closed her eyes quite hard and continued to listen. _Did he actually throw me?_

"Pfft, I'm not entitled to protect her, I'm just supposed to be with her 24/7, but apparently, that's not working if you're breaking us apart." Ironically, when Lance commanded them to stay together, neither moved, which made N's statement quite self-contradictory. "Heh, besides, you could have said please and I wouldn't have had to throw her _or_ punches at you."

"We have orders to keep you away from her at all costs! You cannot be near her; you are a threat!"

"I wonder who you're taking orders from because this sounds like Cheren instead of Lance." N started to snicker, giving off much of a resemblance to his father though it wasn't as evil as intended to be. "You know, this is just as funny as you guys thinking I raped her in the other room last night."

Touko could not take any more of what was happening. She coughed then cleared her throat, alarming both sides to finally capture her consciousness. N shook his head and looked over to her, while the other two shot their eyes in the same exact direction. She exhaled out of her nose and closed her eyes, hesitantly figuring out what to do.

"This is totally a dream, Touko," she said, deadpanned. "You do not see N, shirtless and tied up to a chair looking like a bondage slave with two perverts standing next to him." She covered her eyes with her hands repeatedly and removed them to make sure that this was a dream. "N apparently raped me and now I'm watching him being interrogated."

"This isn't a dream. We actually got caught," N sighed angrily at her. He felt his rights being revoked right in front of his face. "You should hear their absurd story of what they thought we were doing. I think it could have gotten the Golden PokéGlobe Award."

"You have got to be kidding me." Touko broke out into sudden laugher, Ingo and Emmet got quite upset with what N said. "Let me hear it then, perverts."

"Oh no, we are quite serious," Ingo yelled. "We suspected that he physically assaulted you, or raped, whichever is preferred."

"Ahem!" Emmet pulled out a tape recorder. This tape recorder actually had small sounds of Touko grunting and whining which of course the two men felt no shame in recording. N sounded highly dominative in the clip which made this intercourse thing a bit more believable, especially the part when he pushed Touko off of his lap. "Is this enough proof?"

"Hey, give me that, we weren't doing anything!" Touko tried to get out of bed until she realized that her ankles were handcuffed down. She was _also_ stripped of her clothing but she of course had some of her privacy. Her bra still remained along with her polka dotted panties! "Wah, you stripped me down _and_ tied me up? You guys are really perverts aren't you?!"

"We checked for anything unordinary on your body and you seem to be clear." Emmet's face turned to the lightest shade of pink accompanied by a bit of nervousness. "We checked N and he's clear as well."

"You both are not allowed to be within ten feet of each other according to the orders Emmet and I were given," Ingo did not hesitate at all to turn away after the sentence died from his lips. "If you both do not cooperate, then your best friend will be this tranquilizer."

"That's not very nice," N muttered, looked straight at Touko. "I didn't even get a chance to kick your ass."

"If you say so. We'll release you both in exactly one hour."

Both the males walked out of the room after literally bowing down to the both of them. Touko felt very humiliated in front of them. She was stripped down and stuck in the same room with N, both tied up. It was extremely embarrassing to know that they both got caught, even after Touko reassured that the room had no other way to be opened. N gave the female a lengthy gaze before saying a single word.

"You owe me, you know that?"

"But what do you want?" Touko laid back in bed and turned toward the wall, not really wanting to look at N at the moment.

"I don't know; don't ask me, I'm too busy wondering why they want us so bad."

She couldn't look at him without feeling guilty. "I didn't think they would get the key."

"Who said they used a key? They started to pick the lock after finding out it was the last room to search _and _noticing that it was locked."

"What else happened?"

"They eventually got the door open, brought in a literal tranquilizer after I threatened to throw you at them," N coughed while trying to hold back laughter. "They shot your butt and you eventually fell to the ground."

"Hey, why is everything happening to my butt lately!? Why did you even think about throwing me in the first place anyway?"

"It was for protection. I think I was getting a bit fed up with what they were doing so I started to punch and send kicks until they hit me with the tranquilizer."

Touko sighed and turned around to face N who was basically turning red from holding back his laughter. "That's it?"

"I don't know; I got tranquilized."

"Then what's the plan?"

"What plan? We can't do anything. They'll be watching our every move and they probably are right now."

"I think I have an idea but you're going to have to cover for me when they come in, yeah?"

"I don't have a good feeling about this," N continued to glare at her while she did the same to him. "Spit it out."

"Answer my question first. Did they go through my hair at all?" she asked silently while raising herself up, messing around in her hair.

"You're worried about your hair in a situation like this? That's nice." N started to look annoyingly at her after she completed to check her hair. "I wonder how you'll react when a murderer tries to hunt you down."

"No," she uttered, pulling up a bobby pin from her hair. "I needed this. As long as I have this, I can probably pick the lock and get us out. Just as long as you can cover for me, I think we'll be okay."

"That's only if I can actually move this time; I doubt it since I feel really stiff."

"Oh, we'll see about that once I'm done getting us both out."

Slowly, she started to mess with the handcuffs on her ankles. After a few minutes, she realized that it wouldn't work. They were bound to be stuck there for a while.

"And what did I tell you?" N snickered and closed his eyes. "I'm going to sleep."

"Are you really going to sleep just like that?"

"Of course. There's nothing else to do and there's nothing we _can_ do."

Touko didn't reply back, she merely laid back down in the bed and looked toward the ceiling. An hour was too long to wait but it was possible as long as she could block everything out and fall asleep as she did before.


	12. Chapter 12

Lance, along with Cheren and Bianca, decided to walk along the waterside near Numeva Town. Nostalgia hit the two friends harder than expected as they took a stroll through a small path overlooking the sea to their west. Everyone was too worried rather than enjoying the walk.

"There's just something about this place I don't like," Cheren whispered, glaring at Lance's back. "Is there any reason for us actually being here right now? I think we should be getting ready for the encounter with Team Plasma."

"You're so anxious, Cheren!" Bianca poked the male on the side but he gave off little reaction with a simple shiver. "You should learn how to stay calm in situations like this."

"Well Bianca," Lance interfered, clearing his throat before he continued. "He's right but there's nothing we can do without any leads from Skyla. She's still hacking into the Team Plasma main GPS coordinates."

"It feels like forever since we've talked to Touko too…" Cheren stopped in his tracks, causing Bianca to bump into his back. "I wonder if she decided to look at the box yet. I hope she's been eating properly… Do you think she's being bothered or tortured by N and the two bodyguards?"

"Hey! Don't stop walking else I'll fall off the cliff!" The female pushed him forward into the path surrounded by flowers. The smell almost made her calm but it didn't work long enough. "Anyways, she's probably having fun with the guys."

"Having fun? These two bodyguards you see are the Subway Bosses in Nimbasa…" Lance cleared his throat and was interrupted by the sound of one of the walkie-talkies attached to the side of his cape. "And look who's calling for me. I will need to take this."

Lance strolled off, leaving the other two behind to catch up however they didn't bother to do so. Cheren plopped on the ground as he normally would when he felt stressed. Bianca, highly concerned, sat down next to him without a sound. The afternoon sky gave off glistening, sunny rays but the cold air didn't help them take it in.

"You've been so moody since we left her house, speak now or forever hold your peace!" Cheren looked over at Bianca and didn't care to say a single word. "Actually no, it's mandatory that you say something or else I'll be sad for the rest of the day!"

"So you'll be 'sad for the rest of the day'? You've been sad ever since we left the villa." Cheren rose up and wiped the back of his pants while staring off into the distant, endless sea. "You have some extra explaining to do because it should already be obvious why I'm so messed up right now. Is it marriage problems?"

"HAH, you're too funny Cheren." Bianca sarcastically laughed for about a couple seconds before snapping back into her reality. "It's the box that I gave to Touko. There's something that wasn't right when I dug it up."

"What do you mean? It was under the ground just as we buried it before right?"

"Are you stupid? Of course it was under the ground!"

"No shit captain obvious." He pushed his glasses back and didn't let go for at most three seconds. "What _about_ the box?"

Bianca shot out of her spot, wiping off the back of her jeans while walking past Cheren. "The box was partially open and the tape was peeled off as if someone had done it a while ago. I had to re-tape it just in case she got a bit suspicious about it."

"Your box turned up the same way." Cheren's eyes locked onto the path of flowers after turning to his left. He decided to follow Lance's direction and then waved off at Bianca. "It's probably just worn out or something. Stop worrying about it; I'm catching up with Lance."

"You're so emotionless sometimes." She continued to fret but followed along with him.

.

Touko felt slight pushing against her body and felt the brush of long hair tickling her tiny arms. She looked behind her quickly and felt her ankles free to move. Surprisingly, she had been sleeping in the same position, crouched under the desk with N. Perhaps she had a dream after all.

"You've been sleeping for a while," he whispered, tugging at the roots of his hair. He sat up from slouching tiredly alongside the wall and stared away from the half-awoken brunette. "Don't worry me like that."

"B-but we… I… Didn't we get caught by Emmet and Ingo?"

"You must have been dreaming. Your relentless outbursts in your sleep didn't help either."

"I thought we were handcuffed!" Touko swung out from under the desk and shivered heavily from being dressed lightly the night before. "We were literally half-naked and they—"

"Shh," N leaned over from under the desk and sat right next to her, patting her back. "I think it was because you heard us arguing over something not really that important. Maybe you should sleep properly, like in a bed or something?"

"I don't need to sleep in a bed! I just want to know how on earth everything turned out this way."

"It's nothing too important. We just argued with the door in between us. They can't get in unless we open it."

_What a relief_, Touko thought, sighing with heavy content. _Maybe the key doesn't even exist…_ "Well, wanna spit out the story or keep it a secret?"

"We just made a deal, that's all." N rose up from the ground, dizzy from sitting in the same position for almost the entire night. He walked toward the door and placed his hand on the doorknob. "Once the day is over, we will be handcuffed with possibly the strongest metal on this earth but only for a month due to Lance's orders apparently."

"Pfft! And you didn't even try to say something against it?!"

"Of course not, it's an order. I won't try to go against something that I've been ordered." He opened the door slightly and peeked over the edge to make sure he wouldn't be tackled as soon as he walked out. "There's nothing much to do from here on out."

_I don't even think I can do this anymore! _Touko started to scream, mentally. She was aching with mixed feelings. _As much as I like this idea, I have to go against it! _She quickly shook her head and followed him out the door to the hallway. "I mean, don't you feel your privacy being violated?"

"It's not like I have anything to hide from you, Touko. I _have _no privacy whatsoever." Obviously, he was bluffing when the words spilled from his lips. "I don't mind being handcuffed to you for a month."

He stopped in the midway to his room and scratched at his scalp for a bit. Touko was too busy blushing at the fact that N didn't actually mind being stuck with her for so long. She cleared her throat before speaking her words, trying not to make the moment as awkward as it already was.

"I don't mind being handcuffed to you either…"

"Heh, now you're just saying that." The two proceeded down the hallway and once again, N halted in his place, truly not knowing what to do at that moment. "We only have one day to actually do things alone so maybe we shouldn't talk to each other today."

"You're acting weird right now," she whispered, putting her right hand over to the left side of her mouth. "I kinda wanted to watch a movie…"

N faced back at the small figure, contemplating on what he had to do. It's not like either of them had a normal life in the villa or anything important to do. They would just eat, sleep, shower, read and repeat. Even then, a little conversation between the two of them was something they had both looked forward.

He decided to watch a movie with Touko though he had no idea where they would watch such a thing. "You want to watch a movie, huh?"

"Of course I do! I have two movies left untouched: _The Big Monster _and _The Giant Woman_." She poked her chin multiple times before finally changing positions. "

"_The Giant Woman _is a chick flick… or so it seems; I don't wanna watch that. I've seen _The Big Monster _twice. But…" he mumbled, walking straight to his room's door and opening it very slightly before slipping in. "I guess if it's what you want…" He tried his best not to look intimidating at the girl but she didn't seem to notice after the words she were given. "You're lucky we're _friends_. Seven o'clock, I'll meet you in the living room."

_Cha-ching! Now I won't sound like some creepy stalker! _Touko swiftly ran down the hallway but quietly not to break the peace that had already been contained within the villa. All she wanted to do was brush her teeth, shower, and then go bother N.

.

By the time Lance had gotten off of the walkie-talkie, Cheren and Bianca were finally caught up with him after dealing with each other for not even ten minutes. The both engaged in mudslinging along with constant childish behavior. Neither of them felt ashamed as it made their childhood play back once again.

Lance was content though in actuality, he was too scared to even face the two who followed up behind him. Both Cheren and Bianca noticed right away after he clenched his fists suddenly.

"Problem sir?" Cheren mocked accordingly, though Lance was in no condition to take him formally. "You're most certainly not acting like commander anymore."

"It's Team Plasma…" he quietly replied. There, silence slid around the three of them, the silent wind creating to the stressful atmosphere. "Skyla was just telling me that they're currently on foot to Touko's house from a laboratory not too far from here."

"Well?! Why don't we tell Touko?" Bianca started to fumble through her hair while Cheren was attempting to reach N and Touko. There was not a single sound at all coming from the two on the other side which put them at a dead end. "This is why we can't trust the two of them alone."

"Either way," Lance groaned, clutching onto the walkie-talkie, "we can't allow them to leave the villa unless they want to get killed on their way out."

"But why?" The two said in unison with great revelation. Lance's statement was very paradoxical because escaping would be the easiest way out. They even rejected eye contact with Lance. Bianca plopped onto the ground with Cheren turning his back on the both of them. It was evident that they were upset with the outcomes either way.

"It's obvious isn't it?"

"It's not," Cheren pushed his glasses back and combed his fingers through his hair before finally turning back around at Lance.

"Team Plasma will attack from all ways possible through many ways. Land, air, sea. North, south, east, west. There's no true reasoning behind it but the only way they can expect to go anywhere is to fight them off right then and there."

"I need a breather," Bianca walked off past Lance and decided to hit the top of the hill.

She was leaving the two guys there to talk out the situation. Nothing seemed more logical besides 'escape' in Cheren's mind. Even then, Touko had no way to survive the attack with Team Plasma though he was overthinking it. Lance was too busy not caring much about it but he was overestimating the power of the four individuals back at the villa.

"Ahem," Lance broke the silence after a slight cough and sigh of relief. "Skyla told me where the laboratory is but we have to train properly before infiltrating it."

"Are you not worried about the others at the villa at all? I don't think you understand what's going on here."

"I understand perfectly what's going here and we're going to hurry up and take a detour to Undella before Team Plasma gets there."

"Hold on," Cheren gripped onto the roots of his hair forcefully before letting them rest back in place. "We have to tell the others before we plan anything out."

"I already know the plan. We don't tell Touko or N about it and leave the rest to Emmet and Ingo."

"But why? They're two people. Four people are better than two."

"The other two are unable to carry out orders at the moment; I'd like you to understand that." Lance pulled up his walkie-talkie and cleared his throat before speaking into it. "This is Lance reporting to Ingo."

A scratchy yet somewhat clear voice was heard and replied back with a simple, "_Yes sir_?"

"It's Team Plasma; they're headed your way so you need to block them out. I'm headed in the same direction with the two others coming along with me."

"_Ack! Is that all you request sir_?" Lance couldn't tell but Ingo was trying to calm himself from the immediate order. "_I-I mean, if there's anything else that you wanted to add onto that_."

"Do not tell N or Touko about it. Call back up if you need it but I doubt you do as long as we're coming."

"_Y-yes sir, I will tell Emmet about this_."

Lance shut off the walkie-talkie and looked at Cheren then straight to the sea, arms crossed. "Go get Bianca and start flying along the most eastern path away from Unova possible. We have to infiltrate from the east if anything. I'll take lead so don't fall behind."

"You still didn't give me a valid reasoning as to why we can't tell N or Touko about the situation."

"Cheren, out of all people, you should know how Touko gets when she's put into a troubled situation. She would be stunned if you told her what was happening. You understand what I mean, don't you?"

"Of course I do, it's just that her life could be taken away from this one single attack."

"I'm glad you understand but it's strictly business."

With that being said, he threw a Pokéball without saying a single word. A blue light surrounded the silhouette of a Pokémon that appeared to be Charizard. He quickly hopped on its back, alerting Cheren indirectly that there was no time to waste.

"Man, that guy has no sympathy for anyone whatsoever…"

.

N's face was buried in his book, unbeknownst to him that he had fallen asleep reading _The Giant Woman_ to plan himself for the movie.

He was awoken by a sound of someone's walkie-talkie which was not his own. He had rejected to retain the volume on his while he was reading. It turns out, he was listening to an order meant only for Emmet.

"This lousy thing is in here? What for?" He abruptly picked up the mere item from his nightstand and stared at it intensely. "Heh, I don't think neither of them will need you if they're allowing it to sit in here all idle. I wonder why Lance even put them to the job if they're not going to be attentive to the important things being ordered…"

The moment N was about to throw the walkie-talkie off the veranda, he heard his name being called from it. Right then and there, he started paying attention.

"_I repeat, Team Plasma is going to infiltrate in less than two to three hours. N and especially Touko cannot get involved or we'll fail the mission. It's simple as that._"

He placed the walkie-talkie back on the nightstand and rubbed his chin down. Touko popped through the bathroom door with the box she had received the day before. This didn't really scare N, who was deep in thought. He had a plan for something he hadn't a single idea.

"What are you doing?" Touko asked, throwing a small pillow at his back that had laid still on the bed for some time. "Were you standing like that for the past hour or something?"

"Of course not, I just had a thought."

"If you say so," she plopped right down on his bed and gave a great sigh. "What are you doing?"

"I'm breathing, looking out the glass doors and listening to your mouth spill unnecessary words. When are we going to watch that movie of yours? Isn't it already seven o'clock by now?"

"About that, I was about to drag you down to the theatre under the house. It has extra surround sound speakers so we'll be having a bunch of fun in there!" After about ten seconds of silence, she realized how out of context that sounded and whispered, "Psst, I wish to retract that statement…"

"I don't understand how you live the way you do," N strolled over to Touko, pulled her hand and walked toward the door. "Come on, we're wasting time the more you yap about weird things."

Touko's face was splashed with a heavy red, shocked that N specifically randomly grabbed her hand without a reason. She was curious but she didn't think about it too hard. Immediately, she took lead with him walking a bit slower. Both of them walked carefully down the stairs and past the living room to a door N assumed was just a coat closet of some sort. To his curiosity, Touko forced him to open it leading to a staircase in a bigger hallway setting.

"How do you even hide stuff like this from me?!" N walked down first, examining the glossy, black flooring with the plain, white walls crashing against the two of them. Pictures lined up along with many sculptures and led to about ten different rooms. Touko was calm as she knew the place like the back of her hand.

"It wasn't important the first night you came. I just wanted to leave you alone that day." Ironically, it was the other way around but she didn't bother to correct herself. "The theatre is the double doors at the end of the hallway. I'll explain the other rooms when the time comes."

Both of them scurried down the hallway, slowly but surely they reached the double doors. Here, two bars lined up parallel to each other in a much aligned fashion. They were iron and looked barely touched by anyone. Touko pushed one of the two doors open and led N into the theatre which included a couple of seats facing a very large screen.

"Sit anywhere!" She commanded in a friendly manner. "Normally, I'd have a butler or maid during this kind of year of but I guess I forgot since you were living with me." With a killer smile, she softly whispered, "I'll just make the perverts carry out my orders."

"Then we can sit right in front if you don't care."

"Of course not, let me just put this box somewhere so we can watch this movie."

"Um," N scratched the back of his head lightly before looking up at the female. "Why do you have the box with you?"

"I was planning to look at it for a bit after the movie was over. Keeping it upstairs with the perverts would be a bad idea."

"Good idea on your part to be honest."

Touko placed the box directly under her chair and walked toward the control box that was right next to the big screen. She started to fumble around, placing the movie _The Giant Woman _in first. N was gladly prepared to watch it although he merely skipped to the end of the book so he would prepare himself for Touko's crying if she ever decided to do so.

"Alright, the movie will start in exactly five minutes." Touko walked back and fell into her seat, comfortably so that she was able to look at the movie properly. "Darn, I forgot the pillow and blankets again…"

"I got it; don't do anything while I'm gone." N voluntarily stood up before Touko's hand could grab his shirt.

"Well, that was nice of him," she whispered, looking at her fingers. "I could have done it myself though…" She pulled her legs in and laid back in red cushioned seat.

N slowly walked down the hallway with the blue decorative lights flashing on him every time he fell underneath a bulb socket. He walked up the steps and noticed that Emmet and Ingo were in the living room, having some sort of staring contest. Watching N walking across them was painfully gruesome as his secretive energy proved to be strong against them.

"So, how long are you two planning to be watching that movie of yours?" Ingo tipped his hat, trying to cover his wandering eyes. "You should get prepared for that handcuffing of yours."

"Two movies should take around three hours and a half. I don't plan on doing anything else with her down there so don't plan on sneaking on us." He ignored the handcuff statement and proceeded to walk up the steps with the two males eyeing him as they did Touko the night before. "A deal is a deal."

_I truly hope they get fired, _N thought, walking into Touko's room. _I would really appreciate it_. He grabbed a single comforter off the bed along with two pillows. Noticing that both of them hadn't brought their walkie-talkies, he decided to go to his room to get his after retrieving Touko's from her nightstand. After that was finished, he walked down the stairs, the two males eyeing him down once more before he walked back to Touko.

He entered the theatre, expecting a hyper, awakened Touko but noticed she was half-asleep when he returned. He sighed, walked to their seats and made a small bed for the two of them to lay in comfortably for the next couple of hours. Afterward, he sat down facing forward, ignoring the eye contact of company sitting beside him.

"You seem a bit tired. Are you sure you can handle watching movies for several hours straight?"

"I was just waiting for you," she softly replied. She sounded tired to the point where she could have fallen asleep just saying a few words. She dimmed the lights using the remote conveniently placed in her lap. "Don't mind me, I'll be hyper when this movie starts. That should be in about two minutes or so."

"If you're tired, fall asleep on me, alright?" N turned his face over to his right and covered it, embarrassed that he offered to be her personal pillow.

On the other hand, Touko was flattered and covered her face with her blanket. "Why are you acting like such a gentleman all of a sudden?"

"I'll be handcuffed to you for a month." N looked back at the screen, noticing the movie was opening with the scenery of the beach. "I'm just getting used to you being near me, that's all. We have to know what's normal and what's not normal to do around each other."

"Well when you put it that way," Touko's lifted up the arm of the chair that blocked their contact and placed her head on N's shoulder, staring at the big screen as the movie continued to play. "Don't mind if I do."

N covered his face once more with the satisfied woman literally breaking into his comfort zone. He truly didn't mind it. As long as she was happy, everything was perfectly fine for him.

The movie went on for some time with Touko quiet most of the time. She started to sniffle a bit though it was rarely. N would occasionally shove a tissue in her face without a single warning for her. Of course, she'd push it back in his face complaining she only had something in her eye. Toward the end of the movie, Touko started to sniffle the most. The main character of the film foolishly decided to enter the city to save his giant girlfriend's life. Touko forcefully tugged on N's shirt while he continued to carelessly shove tissue in her face.

"Did you see that?! He's protecting himself from her! What if he dies?" She completely ignored the tissue in her face and watched the movie, deep into the setting to the point where she was possibly trying to find reality. Her eyes went from sad to demented in a matter of seconds. She continued to act in such a manner if the movie didn't turn out the way she had hoped it to be. "I want a boyfriend like that; what about you?!"

"Oh _yeah_." N curved away from Touko, disgusted by her train of thought. "I sure want a boyfriend as handsome as Kyouhei. I hope he'll risk getting crushed by me while I'm on a rampage!"

"Oops! I keep thinking that you're Bianca." She poked her cheek then looked up at N who was focused on the movie rather than paying attention to her actions. "Do YOU want a pretty girlfriend like the girl in the movie?!"

"Yeah. Sure. Hush up before you miss the good part." He forcefully turned Touko's head over to the screen as they watched together. "Say, you've never seen this before, right?"

"I haven't… why do you ask?"

"Because I know what happens in the end."

Touko let out a huge gasp, more surprised that he could have possibly seen it before she did. "You're obviously lying. You didn't seem like you saw it when I asked you to watch it with me!"

"See Touko," N patted her shoulder while focusing on the screen. "The difference between us is that I don't tell you everything that I do because you don't ask. You on the other hand like to say things without being asked about them. Makes sense right?"

"Tell me!" she growled, stopping the movie with the remote control she laid on the seat next to her. "I won't start it until you tell me."

"Fine, then do this first." He positioned himself to face Touko and moved in a bit closer. "Tell me what you think will happen at the end of the movie then I'll tell you what actually happens."

"Deal!" She immediately leaned in toward his ear but his finger crossed her lips, refraining her from actually doing what he had wanted her to do. "What is it? I thought you wanted me to tell you."

"Give me the remote."

"That's not even part of the deal!"

"But you have to give it to me or I won't tell you what happens at the end."

Once again, she succumbed to his will and handed the remote to him. The moment he tried to snatch it from her grasp, she held on tightly to it. "Leave it like this and tell me."

N gave Touko a come hither motion causing her to move in toward him. His ear was prepared to listen but instead, the moment she was close to kissing contact, he took the advantage to give her a small, quick peck. She lost grip of the remote while he pulled it away to resume the movie. She didn't bother grabbing it back; after all, she was in shock.

He smirked at the screen, seeming happy that his undercover plan worked. She shielded her mouth and drowned in red, ready to stand up and leave the room. But instead, she sat inaudibly, paying attention to the ongoing movie. Several times she would peer over but not say a single word. When the movie was completely over, N stared at her for about two minutes before offering to change the movie. She nodded, gratefully and covered her face with the comforter. Touko was simply too startled to say another word to him.

"You're so quiet now, what happened?" N covered his mouth before laughter ensued. "You can't seriously be dwelling on something that little, are you?"

"I-it was just unexpected, okay?!" She threw the comforter completely over her head as N came back with the movie prepared. "I hate you."

"Do you know the meaning of hate? The bond between my and my father is hatred." He sat next to her and removed the cover from her head, revealing a heavily blushed Touko. "Stop being so indifferent after that."

"Why did you do it?" Touko asked, throwing her pillow over his face.

"Because I wanted to. Why else would I do it?"

"Just to mess with my feelings or something!"

"Maybe I did do it because of that. Thanks for the idea."

"Yeah, no problem, pervert," Touko covered majority of her face except her eyes underneath the comforter. She looked over at him with him looking right back. It was almost as if they were engaging in a staring contest except N hadn't blinked for the entire minute they had been staring at each other while the movie was starting up.

As the movie progressed, the mood in the room started to brighten. Touko wasn't too worried about the situation anymore after the terrifying scene of _The Big Monster_ in which a huge robot started to smash a boatyard . The surround sound speakers added to the environment as if it was realistically happening. It seemed as if all sound was blocked from the outside world.

.

Team Plasma was marching in small groups toward the villa without the knowledge of N and Touko. Emmet blocked entire front area of the villa or the south of the villa from Touko's part of the veranda while Ingo prepared to cover the west of the villa. They called for backup but very little. Four groups of twenty hid on each side of the town to prepare for the attack. Lance had reached the area from the east, keeping eye out for air traffic. He often settled with Bianca who sat atop a tree, looking down at the path to Lacunosa Town in order to dispatch her Pokémon appropriately. Cheren sat in the ocean atop a rock that could have been taken mistake as a small island. Everyone came prepared with replaced walkie-talkies to refrain from the other two knowing of the plan.

The air was cold and everyone was tired but there was no time for rest. The air helped them keep alert of their surroundings but the darkness made it hard to spot out anyone, especially since Team Plasma had outfits darker than Darkrai itself. Everyone was placed with his or her Pokémon and ready to attack.

"Everyone in position?" Lance whispered while using binoculars toward the west. "I think I may have spotted a few members coming from the south."

"_I'm hyped up to the point where I might attack myself_," Cheren sardonically replied, poking fun at his very own commander. "_But seriously, I think we're all ready to go_."

"Emmet, how's your end going?"

"_A-OK as far as I see it. I think we can also cover the south if Cheren can't do it alone."_

"And Ingo, how are you doing down there?"

"_Very good; we have men standing on top of the roof just in case they decide to do an air ambush._" Ingo started to salute in the dark air, confident about the entire plan. "_The two are inside watching a movie so they won't be able to hear anything._"

Truly satisfied of the current situation, he gave an arrogant smirk and glared around the place. "Excellent. Everyone stay in position; I'll be scanning the west portion of the area if anyone needs to see me eye to eye."

Lance commanded his Charizard to fly over to the west to check out the sky traffic for a bit. Bianca was glaring far out to the west as everyone was else also faced the direction, assuming that Team Plasma was coming from the west. Seconds later, three men shot randomly from the air, somewhat catching Lance off guard. He called out a Dragonite along with a Dragonair in the water for more backup.

"I saw three men as fast as lightning shoot through the air. Hold your positions as tightly as possible."

"_So the Shadow Triad wants to play before everyone gets onto the field_?" Cheren pushed his glasses back and pushed his walkie-talkie in his back pocket before quietly thinking, _ready or not, here we come!_

Bianca threw her Pokéball in the direction of the water revealing a graceful shape of Milotic. She threw another one containing a Stoutland. Cheren silently called out his Umbreon onto the sands while regaining his already positioned Solrock above him. All directions were cautious of the three identified people.

"_I can see a group of about twenty to thirty members coming from the north. I think I can help the men here handle it_." Bianca quickly cut herself off from the walkie-talkie as her end went silent. She was already commanding her Stoutland to use Hyper Beam back and forth.

Cheren laughed into the walkie-talkie, truly amused by Team Plasma's actions. "_It's silly; they're all pulling in at once. There are about five of them in the water; we can obviously take them out_."

"I hope you all are prepared!" Lance flew up to the north, watching the team charge down the route then yelled through the walkie-talkie once more. "Allowing them anywhere near the villa will put the two inside in shock. Make sure the men inside are able to refrain from making noise and creating damage to avoid the two getting involved."

"_I'm going into battle mode, captain!_" Ingo sent a final salute before sending the men toward the charging Plasma members.

"Emmet, how's the front going?" Lance was too worried about the three men that shot through the air to worry about his part of the town. "Is anyone charging toward the center yet?"

"_The men are sensing a presence near them though it cannot be identified at the moment._"

"That doesn't sound good; I'll be headed down after confirming there's nothing coming overhead…"

Emmet and the other men blocking the entire front proceeded to wait until there was no more of a peculiar presence around them though it seemed to halt there for a while before one man securing the door abruptly fell to his knees with the wind feeling massively heavier around them. The door opened expeditiously, causing the crowd of men to come rushing in including Emmet. The uneasiness around them started to wear off.

They all scanned the room, keeping in mind that they had to keep silent to not capture the attention spans of the two below. A sudden drop of a book from the bookshelf near the staircase startled the men as they peered into that one spot alone. The sudden sound of a deep, spine-startling voice was heard from the exact area.

"Such weak security this is… You ought to make it better and more prepared for us next time." Out of the shadow appeared Touya one of the Shadow Triad members appeared directly before him. "Stand aside before you all fall into the same will as N and Touko."

"Too bad for you," Emmet confidently replied. "I will rid of you as it is my duty to defend the two of them. Your business is not needed here. Why don't you go back to your castle and up _your _security?"

"We do not have time for this, Master Touya. Shall I hold these men off as you search for the documents?" The Shadow Triad member stepped up, getting into a fighting stance. "I am ready at your command."

"You've read my intentions clearly. Take care of these men as best as you can while I retrieve what we have mostly desired."

Touya turned into the air around him, disappearing as if he had not been there before. The two remaining members appeared in thin air, readying themselves for what seemed to be an uneven battle. Emmet looked behind him as he commanded the men to charge forth the Shadow Triad.

"Calling in Lance, how is your side holding up?" Emmet's hands trembled, having felt as if he failed the task that he had been assigned. "It's getting quite wild down here and we may need some back up if it continues to flood into the villa."

"_Air traffic is flowing lower than it was just a few minutes ago. Everyone has descended on land. Watch out; I'm headed down since it seems as if you are having trouble_."

"Apparently, the male you speak of by the name of Touya has invaded the villa and is unknown at this very moment."

"_Leave him be, I'm going in for the kill_."

"You're exaggerating a bit too much, sir…"

"_It's a figure of speech, Emmet. Take care of the front and clear a way for me to come in; I'll take care of the rest inside_."

"As you wish…" Emmet sighed heavily then proceeded to walk toward the door, carrying out his next set of orders.

.

"This isn't normal; I wonder why the two idiots haven't come to check up on us just yet." N mumbled to himself repeatedly, causing Touko to glare at the male for some time. "This is not right…"

"Something the matter?" Touko frowned lightly at him, covering her face with the comforter in her lap.

"It's not important; I just have a headache." N covered his face lightly while Touko slowly glided her eyes back onto the movie. She was too interested into it to actually care about N's wellbeing. _Well that's great, now she doesn't have to wonder about what I'm bickering. _

Touko was being too entertained, shrieking at the most terrifying parts of the movie. N couldn't help but to stand up as the constant noise of the movie filled up the sound atmosphere around them. He was fatigued, wishing to sleep off his pain. Instead, he dropped the controller to the movie projector into the lap of Touko and proceeded out the doors that led to the cool, icy hallway. She stopped the movie and peered behind her chair, wondering why N was leaving off.

"Keep playing the movie, I'll be back in ten minutes or something; I need a breather before I have a heart attack." N's hand waved back to reassure his arrival after the specified amount of time he spoke of. "Don't pause the movie or else."

Touko shrugged and slid back down into her previous position.

N paced down the cool hallway, simply glaring around at things he hadn't observed the first couple of times he strolled through it. Abruptly, a loud sound of a crash was heard from above where he stood. N pierced a glare to his right then swiftly to his left and shrugged, completely assuming that the noise was perhaps just from the theatre. The noise was once again evident, this time causing N to flinch. It sounded as if someone had been knocked to the ground.

_Eh, first this hallway is colder than normal, then I'm starting to hear things? I should stop hanging out with Touko so much_, he thought, shaking his head quickly. He continued down the end of the hallway and up the stairs, hearing sounds that appeared to be people commanding Pokémon and engaging in a Pokémon battle.

_I knew I should have left Touko a bit earlier_, N thought. _Time to move quickly into action if this is all what it's worth._

Swiftly, he shot through the door, a battle zone nearly wiped out the interior of the house. All that could be seen were Pokémon battling about as the house appeared with nothing but messiness that had never been known to exist. Emmet was seen across from the door of the basement area. N sprinted over, evaded a few attacks then appeared behind Emmet and violently tugged him by the back of his collar.

"Would you like to tell me what's happening before I figure out myself?" N whispered in the other male's ear quietly. "I'll be glad to take every one of these people down individually if that's what I have to do to get you to say something."

"Aren't you supposed to be down there watching over Touko or something?! Touya is after documents of some sort!" He struggled calmly out of N's grip and turned around, sighing heavily as he couldn't keep the secret he was supposed to keep.

"Tell me what's happening first then I'll probably pretend this isn't happening."

"How do you even keep your cool in a situation like this?!"

"I don't even know what's happening but it looks like you may need a bit of help. Go ahead, shoot."

"Well," Emmet sighed once more and crossed his arms. "We knew Team Plasma was going to invade but we didn't want you guys to have any knowledge of it whatsoever as we had no idea what their intentions were if they decided to take foot here. Touya appeared with the Shadow Triad but it seems as if they disappeared along with Touya. Touya could still be here for all we know. Did you not encounter him when you were in the theatre?"

"No; Touko's too busy being swooned by the movie." N looked around at the zone of action after he brilliantly thought of a plan. "Just continue to block the front. I have about eight more minutes to kill before Touko realizes that I've been up here too long. I'll look for Touya so don't move!" The young male ran up the stairs and did not look behind him as he dodged more attacks coming in his direction.

"Roger that!" Emmet turned back around toward the entrance of the villa, blocking off all people who were part of the flood of Team Plasma members.

N dashed up the staircase, evading all of the random ice beams approaching his way. Touko assured was going to have a fit as if it was that time of the month for her. He groaned, thinking about the outcome after all of this. His hair weighed him down a bit, forcing him to tie it up after a close call with a beam of ice on interaction with the tie of his hair.

The first place he ran to, or the only place he had dared run into was Touko's room. Upon opening the door, objects flew and defied gravity, revealing a man angrily flinging things to his great desolation. Touya detected N walking into the room and pierced an icy, devilish glare at him as he paced himself quickly toward the man. N did not bother to move.

"Hey, it's nice to see you again but I don't take pride in you messing up Touko's room like that. Would you like to tell me why you're in here?" N mocked the male, staying calm as possible before snapping a nerve. "What documents are you looking for?"

"None pertaining to you. You probably know where she hid that damn box. Don't you?" Touya turned back around, knocking over a bookshelf to his demise. "I'll probably just stab you right here if you refuse to tell me where the box is."

_Touko has the box_, N thought, smirking at the troubled male before him. "Nah, ah, ah, not with that attitude will you find that box of yours."

"You dare mock me at this very moment , don't you?" Touya walked over to N slowly, causing dramatic silenced between the two of them. Touya's hand flew swiftly toward N's face but he was too slow; N carefully timed his position and blocked the hit as accurately as possible. He had several millimeters to spare or the hit would have knocked him out cold. "You're quick, when did you learn to be that way?"

"I've always been this way. Is there something odd about it?" N dropped Touya's down while turning around. "I don't have time for this, just leave."

"You haven't told me where the box is. You're very hesitant on doing so, N."

"As if I'd tell you where it is. You'd have to chase me for it first."

N chuckled, turning around expeditiously and running toward his room. Touya bolted in the same direction, completely angered by such actions. N opened the door fast yet careful not to create any unnecessary noise. He stormed in, looking from right and left for Pokéballs in view. Only one seemed to have been there: Touko's Lucario.

_Damn, this is all I have… Zoroark is busy_. N quickly placed his hand on his forehead, before finally figuring out what to do. "Lucario, help me out for a bit!" N tossed the ball in the air, releasing a calm silhouette of the well-shaped Pokémon. Lucario didn't hesitate to obey commands after realizing how much trouble had been going on from being in the ball too long.

"This is immature beyond words, N! Where are you?!" Touya dashed through the door, noticing N standing completely still next to Lucario. "Oh, so a Pokémon battle is what you want?"

"More like I need a way to stall so I can get your filthy presence out of my sight. Lucario, Aura Sphere; don't worry about the damages!"

A very beautiful, graceful shade of blue aura charged into the hands of Lucario and was shot forcefully at Touya who hesitated to evade the attack. This bought N time to grab his briefcase from his desk area and flee the scene, leaving Lucario to stall time for the young male.

N shot through the bathroom, into Touko's room and continued off down the staircase to Emmet. "Get Touko out of here before she gets hurt! I think I pissed off Touya too much for my own good!"

"We'll take care of him, don't worry about it! Bring Touko up here before things get too out of hand."

Without hesitation, N paced himself down the staircase leading to the theatre. The silence was almost too suspicious for him. It frightened him to no end. He sighed and opened the door before him, revealing the movie stopped with a sudden confrontation between Touko and Touya.

"Oh, you were a bit too slow this time, N." Touya smirked as he pulled Touko up by her shirt. "Now, where is the box?"

.

Ai! I'm sorry for not posting stories often, lately. Firstly, I was playing Pokémon Black 2 (THE ENGLISH VERSION!) and I got too obsessed with it. I've also been very busy with keeping up at school but now that there's finals coming up, I can probably get in two or maybe even three stories during the break so be looking forward to that, fellow readers! Also, if there's any need to contact me about anything, I'm always up for messages and such~

Secondly, I'd like to say that this chapter is a little more than I'd normally make my chapters. I hope this chapter is enough to make up for the times I didn't post a story!


	13. Chapter 13

"How is this possible?" N dropped his briefcase, shocked at what had been going on before him. "It's quite inhuman for someone to arrive here at such speed without my knowledge."

"That's where you went wrong," Touya mumbled then started laughing as if he wasn't already a psycho. His insanity continued to spur out of his body, emitting what seemed to be a stressful aura around those before him. "I simply ran, evading the attack that Lucario sent out against me. As you decided to take a shortcut, I merely turned around and ran down, not realizing what I had been missing this whole time: this theatre. How does this make you feel N? Do you feel accomplished? Touko will succumb to my will. Now dear sister," Touya glared down at his younger sister in spite of progression. "Where is the box you have so dearly kept for me as safe keeping?"

"Here you are, ruining the fun for me once again, brother." Touko elevated herself up, ignoring her foolish brother's arrogant question. "I'm not too scared of you anymore so do all the pain you want to inflict." The young woman stood right before her brother, looking into his tainted eyes.

"Touko, stop trying to be tough; come over here before he really _does _decide to hurt you!" N attempted to run toward the two but was stopped by a strong arm: Lance's. "What are you doing, let go of me! She's about to get hit and it would be my fault if she did!"

"Let them have their moment. If it gets too serious, I'll stop it." The red headed male closed his eyes, sighed a bit, and then looked to the ceiling. "This may be for the best but we can't be so sure…"

"As much as I want to cry right now, I can't," Touko, who was struggling in her brother's painful grip, looked over toward the two males standing near the entrance of the theatre. "I'm fine, I can handle it. I've always been too little of a person to stand up for what I'm trying to protect."

"Well, well," Touya rubbed his hands together, causing friction of some sort to happen. "You're actually a big girl now aren't you? I wonder if you can take hits like one."

The older sibling's hand flew in the air as swift as a Braviary, causing Touko to shut her eyes, prepared to tank the hit until Touya's hand was finally threatened by the sudden rush of cold air in his presence. Right then, his throbbing hand desired to slap her at that very moment but suddenly became stiff, just as he was. He dropped to the floor on his knees, tugging on the legs of his sister. Lance appeared content behind a shivering N, who had endured the cold aftereffects of the very move Ice Beam, inflicted by Lance's very own Dragonite.

"Well, that escalated _really_ quickly," Lance bluntly sighed, crossing his arms then throwing them back down after a few seconds of silence. He called his Pokémon back into its ball, patting N's shoulder. "You'll be fine. I tried not to allow Dragonite to s/hit too hard."

Touko, perplexed about Touya gripping onto her legs, looked down, feeling pitiful for her brother. She couldn't tell what was happening as she, herself, was speechless. N merely continued to stare at the two of them, assuming that Touya had fell down, surrendering to the two of them.

"Touya, what are you doing on the floor? Stand up and talk to me, you're confusing me."

"Don't move. They might be in here." Touya gripped harder onto her legs, pulling her down onto the ground in his embrace. "The drugs, they use them on me. I can't seem to feel the effects of them but they turn me into a twisted and demented type of person."

N as well as Lance shockingly looking down at the two on the ground, surprised at what was spilling from the lips of the enemy. Lance's eyes were slightly clenched; he was surprised that Touya easily gave away information about the enemy team.

"Lance, are you actually getting what they're talking about?" N continued to rub his arms, warming himself up little by little while trying to take in the bewilderment of the event happening before him. "This could lead to something if he keeps going."

"I don't know what they're talking about but let's keep listening," the other male replied, eyes closed and pleased at the situation at hand.

"What do you mean?" Touko mumbled, looking emotionlessly at the young man who refused to let go of her. "None of this makes sense. This feels like a dream…"

"The pain I cause is not intended. The Pokémon I use are my true allies no longer. They've also been brainwashed by Team Plasma. I will tell you everything but my time here is quite limited… Just don't give me the box under any circumstances; you will regret it. Just promise me you'll do exactly what I've set in the box…"

"He has spoken too much…" a voice mumbled from the shadows. "We must take him back."

The Shadow Triad appeared behind him magnificently in thin air, pulling him away then vanishing into the darkness of the room. Touko stood up, not presenting much emotion after that confrontation with her brother. Instead, she fainted out of pure perplexity.

"We have a lead now, N. Maybe we should go for it and infiltrate their secret base?" Lance crossed his arms and stroked his chin, mystified by the current situation. "It's all up to you if you have anything you want to share now. We trust you but you must be open about everything you know about Team Plasma that may be important for our knowledge. We're trying to hack into the satellites they currently have in order to find out where they're located."

"I think when we're all rested up and ready, we should proceed to talk about the situation in an orderly fashion," N retorted, walking toward Touko and gently lifting her off the ground as swift as a feather.

"I will order Emmet and Ingo to migrate you both to a different area. Do you have any place in mind?"

"I possibly can arrange something for the night. You, Cheren, Bianca and the other two should come along just in case we need some type of defense from any more harm. We're too vulnerable right now so I'll get everything ready so we can depart soon as possible."

Lance nodded at N before glaring around the room and leaving to his comfort. N sat Touko in his lap as he waited for her to awake from her unconscious status. Minutes later, her eyes twitched open slowly allowing N's worry level to decrease significantly. He was nervous as always being near a sleeping Touko as he could never control his hands around such a beautiful woman.

Touko looked up at N's face and blinked slowly at common intervals of times. "The box… do you know where it is?" She pointed beneath herself, as if signaling to something.

"What are you doing?"

"The box is under the seat."

While clutching onto the young woman, he used all his strength to bend over and feel underneath the chair. There, he noticed the box was resting there, unscathed.

"You're smart, Touko. Even though you probably weren't even planned for something like this to happen, you still brought the box with you. If you hadn't, we probably would have lost something valuable."

"It's just a box anyway." Touko ignored every single word slipping from between his lips and pressed her face onto his chest. "N, I'm tired; can we just go to bed now?"

"Sure, just fall asleep on me right now and I'll carry you back into your bed."

Moments afterward, Touko fell sound asleep, looking quite tempting to touch for N. The box was his top priority. What was so important about the box? He clearly had no leads as to why. He picked it up and examined it for a mere few seconds and stood up, placing the box on top of Touko's stomach as he carried her as well as everything else up to her room.

.

"Sage Ghetsis, your task has been completed even though it was a failure," the voice of a female seeped through the crack of Ghetsis' newly created office. "Is there anything else you'd like me to do?"

"Thank you, Annika, for your effort. You're more helpful than N ever was." Ghetsis snickered loudly before bringing himself to a complete stop. "Speaking about N, how is he doing in his cage?"

"He is rejecting food and liquid. He also refuses to say a single word about the girl."

"Ah," Ghetsis' hands clenched within each other, creating an arch over his desk. "Perhaps Touya has something to say about it. Well, let's just hope he's not drugged yet."

"He isn't, sir. We haven't stuck a single needle in him since last week but the dose is dissipating. During the infiltration, he let out too much information about the drug. It seems that the enemy is aware of the drug's weak point: extreme cold." The woman crossed her arms, losing eye contact with her superior. "He seems to be calm currently but we can't be sure for now."

"Looks like we may have to modify the drug a bit more or else we can't carry out our main plan," Ghetsis informed openly, standing up slowly while walking at a somewhat slow pace. "Take me to the room."

Annika bowed down to her superior and turned around with the sage following up behind her. She directed him down the mechanical, polished hallway and pressed her finger on a glass sensor, allowing her to enter into a dark but barely lightened room. The lights turned on, revealing a worn out male strapped onto a lone, metal hospital bed.

"So Touya, are you ready to tell me what I've most desired to hear?"

"I'm not telling you anything unless you set me free," his deep voice threw chills down Annika's spine. "You can't keep this up or else I'll die without telling you."

"You can't keep it up either, little boy. Tell me where the box is."

"It's not like I know where the box is either, Ghetsis." Touya observed away from the man with limited movement. "Touko never told me and she never will. You might as well consider this plan a failure."

"We're going to try this again later, Annika. Inject him once more," Ghetsis demanded, walking out slowly yet pacing himself once again. "I plan to retrieve the box once again and this time will be no failure or someone's carcass is going to be hung on the outside of this laboratory as display of true failure."

Annika seemed to be a bit stressed but nodded then replied a 'yes sire' toward his fainting shadow while Ghetsis continued out the door. She slowly walked toward a cabinet filled with all sorts of bottles while filling a syringe with a milky, white fluid in which did not seem to be anything known to Touya himself. He sighed heavily and turned toward Annika's direction.

"You know what happened, and eventually, you're going to tell us what you saw there."

"It's not like I remember anything anyway. You can't get something out of me if I don't know anything about it. Next time, perhaps you should think a bit more."

"Shut up and get ready for the next injection." The woman flicked the end of the syringe, prepared to shove the needle anywhere she pleased.

"Don't you ever get sick of injecting me almost every week with this stuff?" he questioned, hoping to get a heartwarming answer out of doing so. "It hurts that you don't realize how painful this gets after a while. This stuff is killing me bit by bit, don't you understand?"

"It's not like I want to do it, I do it because I'm ordered to," Annika frankly countered, biting her lip as she took the last of the fluid from the crystal container she carefully held in her hand. "Don't try to convince me otherwise; just stop talking because it's not going to get you anywhere."

"I wonder what's gotten into you lately. Ever since we joined Team Plasma, you've always sided with Ghetsis and never me," Touya elevated his voice at her out of apprehension. He calmed himself down after she walked directly to his side. "Nevermind what I said, it doesn't even matter."

"It can't be helped." The petite female sighed as she flicked the syringe, "You know the drill, suck it up and be quiet. I hope you don't make this harder than it needs to be. You purposely make too much commotion over a single injection. I'll be sure they chop off your limbs if I require calling for more grunts in here."

"Sure, I won't do anything this time. Just be sure you know who you're siding with in this situation."

The male closed his eyes, laying still and emotionally preparing himself for another dose of the secret Plasma drug that had always invaded his body to no end. Annika was not prepared at all to give him the next dose. His words suffocated her although they were merely simple sentences. Quickly, she stuck the needle into the male's right arm and pulled it out after a few seconds. Touya seemed unaffected.

"I'll call someone to let you free when the drug is evenly distributed in your body. Stay quiet." Annika threw the syringe onto some sort of hospital tray and didn't care to place a bandage on Touya at all. She walked out slowly, allowing him to hear the last of her voice before the drug was intended to take over. "I won't allow you to spill any more information about Team Plasma; you're the last person I'd want to ruin this plan."

_That woman has some nerve_, he thought. Touya simply laid there after her departure, staring at the dark ceiling above him. The night before worried him in how Touko would be able handle the current situation. As long as N was around, he had no troubles remaining calm.

.

On arrival to their new temporary home, N continued to carry Touko even when told he had no need to. His concern for her was too heavy for him to think about letting her go. Cheren simply complained the entire way as well as Bianca complaining about Cheren's very own complaining. Lance refused to say a single word about what happened at the villa, keeping a straight eye for air traffic once more. The two subway bosses Emmet and Ingo didn't have anything to say, mainly because they felt as if their plan had ended in failure. They didn't seem as if they could face their superior the same way.

The sky was dark, the moon illuminating the atmosphere and shining brightly on the group. The moon was full of energy and transferred it to those who needed it the most. Dawn was still quite far away but the group was nowhere close to comfort. It was still too soon for them to sleep.

"Well, this is the last place anyone will find us," N silently stated after grabbing Touko off of the back of Dragonite. He started picking around in his pocket, finding a key with a Plasma symbol it. The key was slightly tossed toward Lance, who truly wanted to be the first one to get in. "It's Team Plasma's old base. The last time anyone was allowed to do business here was around ten years ago directly after I departed Unova."

"Who knew that Accumula was another site of one of Team Plasma's small bases?" Cheren pushed his glasses back, walking toward this somewhat small building that almost seemed like a miniscule apartment. "I think it would be more logical to hide somewhere else but if this is the only place, consider it all the hope we have."

"C'mon Cheren, why do you have to be such a joy kill?!" Bianca pushed Cheren toward the front of the building. "Of course this is going to be all we have if we came here! It's not so bad anyway; the view is pretty nice from where we are anyway."

"Remember Bianca," Lance intervened, "we're on business, not to have rest and relaxation. Now let's carry everything inside before we end up freezing to death." He walked forward in front of the two childhood friends, unlocking the cold door with the very warm key he had held in his hands for a few seconds.

"Pfft, Lance, you're cold? I wouldn't have suspected that from someone with a fiery yet cool attitude."

"You're one to speak, Cheren," Bianca blurted out, giggling away at her own sarcasm.

Lance opened the entrance into a large area, flipping on the lights. This area alone was grand. It was nothing compared to the villa but it was still huge. This room included a kitchen on the other side of a wall to the right of Lance with a bookshelf in the far right corner of him displaying a staircase. A simple living room was naturally lying out in the uncluttered area, seeming unscathed for years and years. The residence looked artless but it was decent enough for the six of them to be together. Bianca directed the subway bosses to come in and showed them where to place items. Cheren, being the chef out of the six, started messing about in the kitchen, stunned at all he saw. The others plunged onto the ground, too fatigued and frozen to start looking around. Finally, after watching the night covered scenery from the outside of the building, N walked in carrying a still knocked out Touko.

"At least the power has been paid for all this time or else you guys would have been even colder upon walking in here."

The green haired male shut the door behind him with his foot, also exhausted but contrasting the others, continued up the steps, leaving everyone else to himself or herself. A curious and concerned Cheren followed behind N, feeling a bit envious that N had not let go of the girl after holding her for hours. Bianca, trying to become a bit more upbeat, followed suit but a little more slowly than Cheren.

"When are you letting go of her?" he questioned in an annoyingly manner. "Just let her have some time alone."

"'Just let her have some time alone' you say? She's not even awake to enjoy the time she has alone. I think she has a fever so she _can't_ be alone."

The two males gave lightning glares at each other after arriving on the second floor. This floor contained the rooms that housed the grunts of years ago. The end of the hallway held the door to the largest bedroom while the other rooms could have had offices as well as smaller rooms which held at least two grunts. The hallway was glossy and looked high tech with the same plain style as the floor below had.

"Guys, don't play rough, we just got here! At least share Touko!" The alert female poked Touko in the cheek, triggering N to gaze away and walk to the end of the hall.

"Sharing a female? That sounds severely wrong and it makes her sound like some kind of toy…" Cheren merely shrugged, following behind the leading male. He didn't bother to argue anymore. "So what's the plan then?"

"We're going out to stock up on supplies. Who knows if we're prepared or not? In the meantime, we'll leave Emmet and Ingo to take care of Touko until she's fully awake and able to listen on what we're going to do."

"So it'll just be you, Lance, Bianca and I? Sounds like a plan." Cheren sardonically pierced a stare at the male before turning around and proceeding back down the steps.

Bianca continued to follow N, examining how he was holding Touko. She didn't want to leave Touko with some people she didn't know but she couldn't help it; anything to reassure all of their safety was good enough.

N sighed and stopped right before the double doors that lead to his intended destination, "You still don't trust me alone with Touko do you?"

"I-It's not that, I just don't want you to taint her with adult things that shouldn't be spoken of, you know?" She covered her mouth and let out an awkward giggle but she tried to refrain from it. "I don't want anyone to fall in love with Touko. She's an airhead really and she doesn't know much about love. You probably have already seen it right?" The male opened the door silently and nodded, Bianca following his every step in. "You know, when you left, she was bored out of her mind. She kept wondering where you were and even then, she couldn't find the strength to find you. All that everyone had were leads."

Touko was released onto the bed softly, tucked in by N. He felt her head just in case she had a severe fever but only to realize that she was quite cold to the touch, opposite to what he thought less than a few minutes ago.

"Is that so? I'll be sure to thank her for not trying to find me when she wakes up." N poked a blanked out Bianca in the back and guided her out of the room. "Don't worry too much about my intentions with her. We're just trying to have a successful friendship, if that makes any sense." The female sighed, walking along with N, who she still couldn't seem to trust.

Both of them finally reached the bottom of the stairs, where they saw the others formally sitting around the large dinner table that was perfect for all of them to fit. Bianca ran toward Cheren and sat next to him. Everyone looked quite filled with sorrow but N was ready to send out orders.

"We should all go out and gather items from the Pokémon Center, and then afterward I'll contact a few Team Plasma members to work for us as spies."

Cheren shot out of his chair, angered once again that N was hiding something crucial from the group. "You have got to be kidding me! You've been in contact with Team Plasma this entire time, not telling us about it?"

"There's a reason for everything Cheren. You will eventually understand why I haven't told you all one day. Let's just say this is for your own good." N crossed his arms, huffing out of his nose quite loudly. "Well, come on Lance, Bianca and Cheren; we've got errands to run."

"Aw! I wanted to stay here and watch Touko just in case she wakes up!"

Bianca pouted and followed behind N, who walked toward the front door with Cheren also coming from behind. Lance delayed his exit by a mere two seconds, still trying to decide on what to do next. All four exited out slowly after the command to sit by Touko and watch her was given to the Subway Bosses. Nearly everyone was prepared to get to work in order to kill off and uncover Team Plasma secrets.

Directly after walking out of the building, Lance shut the door quietly behind him. All four of them gave a heavy sigh of discomfort after touching the cold air once more. Bianca started to huddle behind Cheren with the other two males constantly shivering to themselves.

"We can't let the cold air defeat our purpose." Lance led the group toward the Pokémon center, walking past a few wandering police eyes. "It doesn't do well that the officers keep looking at us like this."

"It's not like we're doing anything suspicious. It's just a black haired guy, a blond woman, a red haired guy and a green haired guy walking to the Pokémon Center in the middle of the night, right?" Bianca giggled to herself, catching her obvious sarcasm that everyone could not. "Ah, what are we doing here anyway?"

"I will buy a few things for our assistance as well as medicine if Touko isn't truly doing well." Lance flipped a hand out which was a halting motion for the rest of the group. "I'll be back, just stand here and don't move or else things may get worse." He walked off, leaving an epiphany acquired Cheren to realize why everyone was staring at the four of them.

"I remember when I first met you here with Touko, right in this very spot, N. Perhaps some of the inhabitants of this town do not kindly greet Team Plasma members here nicely, right?"

"That would make sense," the green haired male pulled his hat more over his forehead, shielding his face. "I wouldn't expect people to think it's actually me, N, of course. My hair might make people wonder but it's not like anyone would remember Team Plasma, I'd hope."

"I wouldn't exactly say that," Bianca whispered, placing the back of her right hand to her cheek toward N. "There's actually a celebration in Unova for the fall of Team Plasma. You've been missing a lot while you were gone."

N gave himself the hardest facepalm of all his life. "I knew something like that would happen. Well, the past is clearly the past. I'm going to stop Team Plasma's evil plans once and for all."

"We'll see about that," Cheren pushed his glasses back while turning away from the others. "I have a bad feeling something is going to happen pretty soon so we have to keep our guard up. What else left do we have to do before returning back to the hideout, N?"

"Well," the male left a few seconds of silence before continuing again, "for one thing, there's a hill here in Accumula; you both know that. I'd like you both to relay this message to Touko whenever you both have time." While pointing to the highest point in the town, he cleared his throat with the two childhood friends staring directly at this flat, clear piece of land. "When you're on top of that hill, you are able to see a hidden, clear area behind several trees. I would like it if we were able to meet in that secret area whenever there is danger."

"Oh I see," Lance's voice shocked the three of them with him appearing out of the Pokémon Center, holding a bag with plenty of items such as potions and things of the like. "Planning a bit ahead of the game now, are we?"

"It's only safety precautions; I used to do the same thing with Team Plasma but we're going to see how this will work out if they ever _do _find out where we are. I still have a feeling that they have connections with people in the area." N's toes curled in his place, still terrified at the thought of not being prepared when another infiltration was going to take place.

"We shouldn't wish bad luck now," Bianca blurted with hands placed firmly on her hips. "Skyla will tell us when another attack is headed toward our way."

The dragon master nodded slightly, walking past little security guard groups and toward the gate to Route 2. "This is for a fact. Now, we must excavate our surroundings before we return back to the hideout."

"Looking for suspicious places or trying to get used to the surroundings?" N chuckled, following directly behind Lance. "Whatever the case, I don't mind killing time until Touko wakes up."

"I'll see her first." Cheren smirked and stuck his face in the air, confident about completing his task of seeing her before N's unworthy eyes touch her.

"Now, now, boys, don't get ahead of yourselves!" Bianca scurried with Cheren by her side. "I know I'll be the person who will neutralize this situation!"

.

Touko looked directly up at the ceiling, feeling a huge weight on her chest yet she felt less stressed than she had ever felt in her entire life. Well, not her entire life but second to when she first encountered N.

The woman sat up after five minutes of examining the weird flower patterns above the bed. She noticed the bodyguards were dozing off on the job. She then realized that it wasn't her bed but it was in an unknown place. The bed was softer, more comfortable than her bed back at home was. The room was huge and gave off a more calming atmosphere after the few days of being stuck with N.

"Wait, wait, wait…" Touko blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. "Where is N?"

Emmet opened his eyes and quickly directed them to the woman sitting on the bed. He rushed over to her, feeling her arms and head to check if she still had any signs of sickness.

"My fair lady, how are you feeling?" He took a flashlight and ran it back and forth past her eyes until she pushed the flashlight down onto the bed.

"What? Where did you get 'my fair lady' from? And I'm fine; I just want to know where N is." Touko stretched until she popped her shoulder blade. "Damn! How long have I been knocked out cold for and where are we?"

"You passed out back at the villa apparently. Neither Ingo nor I witnessed it. We both were ordered to keep you company until you woke up." Emmet clicked the flashlight off and stared at Touko while straightening up her messy hair. "Long story short, it wouldn't have been safe if we stayed there at the villa so here we are, in Accumula. We're currently using an old hideout of Team Plasma."

Touko slapped the sides of her cheeks lightly with her hands. "What if they find us here? Who knows, what if they have some missing documents here that they need to look for?!"

"Keyword: Old. Besides, the place is fine and they haven't been here in about ten years. What makes you think they'll suddenly decide that they're in need of something from a place they abandoned ten years ago?" The man rose up from the bed and walked over toward the window. "Anyhow, if you need anything, just tell me and I'll go get it for you. It's best that you stay in bed and heal up."

"I want to find N."

He turned over to the woman, and sighed. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that. I wouldn't mind calling him to attend to you at the very least."

"But..." Touko was clenching onto the comforter, thinking about the kiss that N gave her the previous night.

"Perhaps you shouldn't push yourself this time. You've been overly stressed lately. Don't you remember what happened last night?"

"To be honest, I have no idea what happened, nor do I want to think about it…" She thought she was being too rash, lying back down in bed and tracing the patterns on the ceiling until Emmet decided to say something to break the silence.

"Don't be too down about it. Would you like me to call for N's arrival?"

Without hesitation, he got off the bed and walked to the nightstand to pick up the walkie-talkie, calling for N to return as soon as possible. Touko sat back up and glared out of the huge glass window that was to her right. It looked as if it was snowing small tiny flurries outside. She recalled times where she enjoyed the snow but felt helpless continuing to stare at it. It was as if every time she eyed something, it would remind her of N. She longed to see N and felt protected by him.

Ingo opened his eyes with no movement, eying Touko. "So, when did you wake up, pretty woman?"

"A few minutes ago; stop flattering her! She'll keep thinking we're perverts."

"Fine, fine," the older brother waved his hand off in his younger brother's direction and stood up, glaring out the window. "I wonder how long we've been sleeping."

"Two hours since the clock apparently says it's three o'clock in the morning. Jeez, I wonder what's been taking them so long."

"_This is Lance reporting in_. _Apparently someone called for N, was that you Emmet?" _

Emmet pushed down the blue button and stared at Touko who was curiously looking back at him. She seemed quite happy that N responded back.

"Yes sir. This is Emmet. I request your arrival with N as soon as possible, sir."

"_Has Touko woken up yet?_ _These people can't seem to stop talking about her while we're doing business."_

"She has awoken less than ten minutes ago. It's best that you hurry back as she is dying to see N."

"_Understood; we will be back in no later than five minutes_." Lance cleared his throat. "One more thing, Emmet, we have a new plan so get ready to map it out as soon as we head back."

"Understood; we will be seeing you shortly." Emmet sighed then put the walkie-talkie back on the nightstand. "Well, that's finished. Are you in need of anything, Touko?"

"I think I'm doing just fine now," she whispered, slipping back under her comforter and smiling hard.

.

"_Attention all grunts of Team Plasma who participated in the infiltration of Undella Town, this is Grand Duchess Annika. There will be a meeting concerning the events of last night. Everyone must wake up two hours prior to normal wake up time. Punishment proceeds as following…" _

"Agh, this is so annoying," a grunt called out. "It's barely time to get up and she's already scolding us just because she didn't give proper orders to that stupid boy? That's her fault…"

All the grunts in their quarters covered their heads with their pillows, blankets and whatnot, attempting to go back to sleep. Annika, finally finishing her announcement, slid down her chair rolling chair and sighed heavily. She was stressed just dealing with the menacing Ghetsis although he seemed to favor her more than any of the commanders.

Moments later, Grand Duke Jiro walked in her office, knocking then kindly shutting the door behind him and quietly walking in. Annika sat back up and straightened her skirt, alarmed that he would walk in at that time of the morning.

"Ah, what are you doing in here?" The woman moved in closer to her desk and tapped a pen on her planning notebook. "It's surprising to see you up at this time of day."

"Implying that it's day time… You know that I'm always up at this time. I don't need as much sleep as these lazy grunts." Jiro sat down in a chair located directly in front of Annika's desk. "You didn't sound too amused with the results of last night's infiltration. You're not up this early in the morning either so tell me what the problem is."

"I didn't know this job was going to be so difficult. Apparently, the Shadow Triad has confirmed that there is another N on the loose. I can't get a confirmation on this if Touya doesn't speak up. Ghetsis also won't believe until he sees with his own eyes." She exhaled from her nose, glaring straight into Jiro's eyes. "Then, in less than ten minutes, I have to confront our imprisoned N. He's been acting like an animal lately too. It's quite frightening if you ask me."

"That's what happens when you keep a man locked in a cage for several days. It's not like I'd know anything about it this case; I'm mainly working on the plans in Sinnoh and Kyurem currently. How's Touya working out on your end?"

"I had to give him more of the chemical in order to regain order. He's found the weakness of the chemical so we must strengthen it and do more tests. I'm actually getting sick of testing on Pokémon, you know."

"It must be hard on you. Working here I mean. Besides, you had no choice but to do it, huh?"

"Of course; even then, my mother still wouldn't have survived the incident here years ago. As long as I'm getting compensation for her death, I'm fine."

Silence aroused between the two of them. They continued to look at each other with interest. Eventually, Annika's timer forced her to stand up and attend to N.

"Do you need any help with him or should I just go back to my office?" Jiro stood up and followed the woman out of the office, shutting the door behind the two of them. "I don't think it was fair for Ghetsis to let a fragile woman do the job by herself."

"It wouldn't hurt to have someone watching. I wouldn't want to have to confront N alone."

N's room was a staircase and four doors down yet Annika skipped his room, causing Jiro to worry. She instead walked into the injection room, grabbed a syringe with a tiny beaker filled with a milky, white substance which forced the man to walk behind her.

"What are you doing?" he asked, rubbing his chin before stopping at a standstill. "N's room is back there and you're in here why?"

"Ghetsis said if N didn't behave, I can just take this and shove it into his neck. He truly is acting like an animal."

Annika grabbed the items with Jiro following behind to head to their destination. Something didn't click in her mind, as he could tell. She started walking faster and faster when they finally made way back to N's room. Before walking in, the woman let out a huge exhale and opened the door. There, N lay in a corner, curled up into a ball. A glass window blocked him from society. Annika tapped on the glass, considerably angering the man behind it.

"Wake up and eat your food. You still have to answer my questions, you know." She felt around the glass for the entry and slid in, standing right before the angered male. "Now, tell me, what vital information are you hiding from us?"

The animal-like N stood up and growled at her, seeming unable to speak any form of communication. His hand flew up, attempting to slap her but Jiro, who Annika had thought was observing on the outside, had restrained this beast-like man and stopped him from attacking her.

Annika, without hesitation, quickly filled the syringe and stuck the needle in his neck, showing no sympathy whatsoever. He suddenly turned dizzy to what it looked like to the other two. Jiro let go of N and dropped him to the ground. The worn out woman dropped to the ground, shocked that he would attempt to hit her.

"Ah, now I see what you have to deal with almost every day," Jiro quietly uttered. "He should be fine after this, let's leave him."

To their surprise, N was no more but rather, he turned into Zoroark. This alerted that something was wrong.

"I knew it! This wasn't N. He was acting too much like a Pokémon to have been a real human being. He wasn't as crazy as this the first time we met, also." Annika quickly rose from the ground and ran back to her office. "I must alert Ghetsis at once."

Jiro sighed, leaving the scene the way it was before. Zoroark was passed out on the cold, prison floor. It was drugged, although it showed no signs of influence of the chemical.

.

Finally, I am finished! Only because I was sick and had a chance to stay home from school. /sulk.

So, I'm starting to think that school hates me since it takes up so much of my time that I could be writing stories. Even on the weekends, it's like hell. /cry. We'll see though. I'm working on chapter 14 as you all read this. There's still more to come of course, so no one getting sad!

I'd like to say though that I'm going to make revisions to the whole story one day and fix all errors that I have made out of boredom. I can just see it now… me sitting in front of the computer with soda, ice cream and a bag of chips, prepared to edit the hell out of this story!

Enjoy readers; I'll try to post another story when I have time.


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